HOWARD  C.H  I LLEGAS 


J    LIBJWRY^} 

f*AI  UnftAWihJh 

v»«vw-\mi^n 

SANDII@©      ' 


OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


President  Kruger  on  the  piazza,  of  the  Executive  Mansion,  Pretoria. 


OOM  PAUL'S  PEOPLE 


A  NARRATIVE   OF  THE    BRITISH-BOER  TROUBLES 

IN    SOUTH    AFRICA,    WITH    A    HISTORY 

OF   THE    BOERS,  THE   COUNTRY, 

AND   ITS    INSTITUTIONS 

BY   HOWARD    C.    HTLLEGAS 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH    EIGHT    PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND    A    MAP    OF    SOUTH    AFRICA 


NEW  YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 
1899 


COPYRIGHT,  1899, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


PREFACE 


AMERICAN  enterprises  in  South  Africa,  and 
especially  in  the  Transvaal,  have  assumed  such 
large  proportions  in  the  last  five  years  that  the 
affairs  of  the  country  and  the  people  are  steadily 
gaining  in  interest  the  land  over.  As  almost  all 
the  interest  is  centred  in  the  Transvaal  and  the 
Boers,  an  unprejudiced  opinion  of  the  country 
and  its  people  may  serve  to  correct  some  of  the 
many  popular  misconceptions  concerning  them. 
The  Boers  constitute  a  nation,  and  are  deserving 
of  the  consideration  which  many  writings  con- 
cerning them  fail  to  display.  They  have  their 
failings,  as  many  a  more  powerful  nation  has, 
but  they  also  have  noble  traits.  In  these  pages 
an  effort  has  been  made  to  describe  the  Boers 
as  they  impressed  themselves  upon  my  mind 
while  I  associated  with  them  in  the  farmhouses 
on  the  veldt,  in  the  drawing-rooms  in  the  cities, 


vi  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

in  the  chambers  of  the  Government  House,  and 
in  the  mansion  of  the  Executive. 

The  alleged  grievances  of  the  Uitlanders  are 
so  complex  and  multitudinous  that  a  mere  enu- 
meration of  them  would  necessitate  a  separate 
volume,  and  consequently  they  are  not  touched 
upon  except  collectively.  As  a  layman,  it  is  not 
within  my  province  to  discuss  the  diplomatic 
features  of  South  African  affairs,  and  I  have 
shown  only  the  moral  aspect  a's  it  was  unfolded 
to  an  American  whose  pride  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  causes  him  to  wish  that  there  were  more 
justice  and  less  venom  in  the  grievances. 

To  the  many  South  Africans  with  whose  hos- 
pitable treatment  I  was  favoured  I  am  deeply  and 
sincerely  grateful.  Englishmen,  Afrikanders, 
Dutchmen,  Boers,  and  Uitlanders  were  excep- 
tionally gracious  in  many  ways,  and,  however 
they  may  have  differed  on  local  topics,  were 
unanimously  courteous  in  their  entertainment  of 
a  citizen  of  the  country  for  which  they  frequently 
expressed  such  great  admiration.  I  am  especially 
indebted  to  Sir  Alfred  Milner,  the  Queen's  High 
Commissioner  to  South  Africa  and  Governor  of 
Cape  Colony,  and  Sir  James  Sivewright,  the  Act- 


PREFACE  vii 

ing  Premier  of  Cape  Colony,  for  many  courtesies 
and  much  information;  to  President  S.  J.  P. 
Kruger  for  many  kindnesses  and  a  greatly  treas- 
ured Transvaal  flag;  to  Postmaster-General  Van 
Alphen,  Mr.  Peter  Dillingham,  Commissioner  of 
War  Smidt,  and  many  other  Government  offi- 
cials, for  valuable  assistance  given  to  me  in  Pre- 
toria. To  those  stanch  Americans,  Mr.  Gardner 
F.  Williams,  of  Kimberley,  and  Dr.  J.  Perrott 
Prince,  of  Durban,  I  am  indebted  for  many  pleas- 
ant excursions  and  experiences,  and  finally  to  my 
friend  Mr.  W.  M.  B.  Tuttle,  of  New  York  city, 
for  valuable  assistance  in  this  work. 

HOWARD  C.  HILLEGAS. 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  September  4,  1899. 


CONTENTS 


I. — SOUTH  AFRICA  OF  THE  PRESENT  TIME         .        .        i 

Its  physical  and  political  divisions — Relations  of  the 
races — Progress  of  the  natives — Transvaal's  relative 
position. 

II. — THE   EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE   BOER   RACE      .  .        2$ 

Early  settlement  of  the  Cape — Troubles  of  the  im- 
migrants with  the  East  India  Company  and  the 
English — The  Great  Trek— Battles  with  the  natives 
and  the  English — Founding  of  the  republic. 

III. — THE  JOHANNESBURG  GOLD  FIELDS         ...      64 

Discovery  of  gold — Early  days  of  the  field  and  the 
influx  of  foreigners — The  origin  of  the  enmity  be- 
tween, the  Boers  and  the  newcomers — The  Jameson 
raid  and  its  results. 

IV. — THE  BOER  OF  TO-DAY 88 

His  habits  and  modes  of  living — His  love  of  family 
— His  religion  and  patriotism. 

V. — PRESIDENT  KRUGER no 

Personal  description— His  long  and  active  career — 
His  public  services— Anecdotes  of  his  life — His  home 
life. 

VI.— INTERVIEW  WITH  PRESIDENT  KRUGER         .        .     136 

His  democracy— Hatred  of  Mr.  Rhodes— Discussion 
of  the  Transvaal's  position— His  opinion  of  Americans 
— Why  he  hates  the  English— A  message  to  America. 


OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


VII.  —  CECIL  JOHN  RHODES      ......    159 

The  ambition  of  the  man—  Story  of  his  youth  —  His 
many  enterprises—  Political  career—  Personality—  An- 
ecdotes and  incidents  of  his  life—  Groote  Schuur  —  His 
home. 

VIII.  —  THE  BOER  GOVERNMENT  —  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  .     191 

The  executive  and  legislative  branches  of  the  Gov- 
ernment —  The  Raads  in  session  —  The  state  military 
organization  —  Mobilizing  the  army  —  Commandant- 
General  P.  J.  Joubert—  His  services  to  the  republic. 

IX.  —  CAUSES  OF  PRESENT  DISSENSIONS   .        .        .        .215 

British  contempt  of  the  Boers—  The  suzerainty  dis- 
pute—The question  of  the  franchise  —  Campaign  of 
slander. 

X.—  PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE  .....    236 

Boers'  strong  defences  —  Attitude  of  the  races  —  The 
Afrikander  Bond—  Armed  strength  of  races—  Eng- 
land's preparation  —  Importance  of  Delagoa  Bay. 

XL  —  AMERICAN  INTERESTS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA      .        .    259 

American  influence  —  Exports  and  imports  —  Leaders 
of  the  American  colony  —  American  machinery  — 
Prominent  part  Americans  have  taken  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  country. 

XII.  —  JOHANNESBURG  OF  TO-DAY     .....    283 

Approach  to  the  city  —  Description  of  the  city  —  Its 
characteristics  —  Its  inhabitants. 


BE     C     II    U    A    N     A     L    A     W  D 


M  A  T  A  £<£.  L  E  L  A  N  D 

Bulawayo         N,Victoria 


(BRITISH     PROTECTORATE); 

O 
W  KALAHARI     DESERT 


Shoshongo 


jPietereburg 


V")Le 


^/4 


JG  R  E 


v      *-  *  £, 

oT^1.-;-! 


ij-dsrtor 


^^S^ 


rswAzi 


Ockiep 


Map  of  South  Africa. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

President    Kruger    on    the    piazza    of    the    Executive 
Mansion,  Pretoria  '   .         .         .         .          Frontispiece 
A  band  of  Zulu  warriors  in  war  costume    ...       42 
Majuba  Hill,  where  one  hundred  and  fifty  Boer  volun- 
teers defeated  six  hundred  British  soldiers    .         .       58 
Kirk   Street,   Pretoria,   with    the    State   Church    in    the 

distance 98 

The  Rt.   Hon.  Cecil  J.   Rhodes    on    the    piazza   of   his 
residence,    Groote    Schuur,    at     Rondebosch,    near 
Cape  Town          ........     159 

Cape  Colony  Government  House,  at  Cape  Town          .     218 
Cape  Town  and  Table  Mountain  .....     259 

Zulu  maidens  shaking  hands 284 

Map  of  South  Africa x 


OOM    PAUL'S    PEOPLE 


CHAPTER   I 

SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE    PRESENT   TIME 

THE  population  of  South  Africa  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  great  classes  of  individuals: 
First,  those  who  are  only  waiting  for  the  time 
when  they  will  be  able  to  leave  the  country — 
the  Uitlanders;  second,  those  who  hope  that 
that  time  may  speedily  come — the  native-born 
whites;  and,  third,  those  who  have  no  hope  at 
all — the  negroes. 

The  white  population,  south  of  the  Zam- 
bezi River,  is  almost  as  large  as  the  population 
of  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  Half  of  the  popu- 
lation is  Boer,  or  of  Dutch '  extraction,  while 
the  remainder  consists  of  the  other  Afrikanders 
and  the  Uitlanders.  The  Afrikander  class  com- 
prises those  persons  who  were  born  in  the 
country  but  of  European  descent,  while  the 


2  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Uitlanders  are  the  foreigners  who  are,  for  the 
most  part,  only  temporary  residents.  The 
negro  population  is  estimated  at  five  millions, 
divided  into  many  tribes  and  scattered  over 
many  thousand  miles  of  territory,  but  united 
in  the  common  cause  of  subdued  hostility  to- 
ward the  whites. 

The  discovery  and  first  settlement  of  South 
Africa  were  made  about  the  same  time  that 
America  was  being  won  from  the  Indians;  but, 
instead  of  having  a  people  that  united  in  the 
one  object  of  making  a  great  and  influential 
nation,  South  Africa  is  rent  asunder  by  political 
intrigue,  racial  antagonism,  and  internal  jeal- 
ousies and  strife.  The  Dutch  and  Boers  have 
their  mutual  enemies,  the  Uitlanders;  the  Cape 
Colonists  are  unfriendly  with  the  Natalians,  yet 
unite  to  a  great  extent  in  opposing  the  Dutch 
and  Boers;  while  all  are  the  common  enemy  of 
the  black  race. 

Strife  is  incessant  in  the  country,  and  a  uni- 
fication of  interests  is  impossible  so  long  as 
the  enmity  continues.  Meanwhile  the  natural 
growth  and  development  of  the  country  are 
retarded,  and  all  classes  suffer  like  consequences. 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME        3 

A  man  who  is  capable  of  healing  all  the  differ- 
ences and  uniting  all  the  classes  in  a  common 
bond  of  patriotism  will  be  the  saviour  of  the 
country,  and  far  greater  than  Kruger  or  Rhodes. 
A  fugitive  bit  of  verse  that  is  heard  in  all  parts 
of  South  Africa  affords  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
country  than  can  be  given  in  pages  of  detailed 
description.  With  a  few  expurgations,  the 
verse  is: 

"  The  rivers  of  South  Africa  have  no  waters, 
The  birds  no  song,  the  flowers  no  scent ; 
The  child  you  see  has  no  father, 

The  whites  go  free,  while  the  negroes  pay  the  rent." 

A  person  who  has  derived  his  impressions  of 
the  physical  features  of  the  continent  of  Africa 
from  books  generally  concludes  that  it  is  either 
a  desert  or  a  tropical  wilderness  throughout. 
South  Africa  combines  these  two  features  in 
such  a  way  that  the  impression  need  not  be 
entirely  shattered,  and  yet  it  is  not  a  truthful 
one. 

South  Africa  is  at  once  a  tropical  garden, 
a  waterless  desert,  a  fertile  plain,  and  a  moun- 
tainous wilderness.  It  has  all  the  distinctions 
of  soil,  climate,  and  physical  features  that  are 


4  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world,  and  yet  in 
three  hundred  years  less  than  half  a  million 
persons  have  found  its  variety  agreeable  enough 
to  become  permanent  residents.  Along  the 
coast  country,  for  one  hundred  miles  inland, 
the  territory  is  as  fertile  as  any  in  the  world, 
the  climate  salubrious,  and  the  conditions  for 
settlement  most  agreeable.  Beyond  that  line 
is  another  area  of  several  hundred  miles  which 
consists  chiefly  of  lofty  tablelike  plateaus  and 
forest-covered  mountains. 

Farther  inland  is  the  Great  Karroo,  a  desert 
of  sombre  renown,  and  beyond  that  the  great 
rolling  plains  of  the  Kimberley  region,  the 
Orange  Free  State,  and  the  Transvaal.  Here, 
during  the  dry  season,  the  earth  is  covered 
with  brown,  lifeless  grass,  the  rays  of  the  sun 
beat  down  perpendicularly,  and  great  clouds  of 
yellow  dust  obscure  the  horizon.  No  trees  or 
bushes  are  seen  in  a  half-thousand-mile  journey, 
the  great  broad  rivers  are  waterless,  and  the 
only  live  objects  are  the  lone  Boer  herders  and 
their  thirsty  flocks. 

A  month  later  the  rainy  season  may  com- 
mence, and  then  the  landscape  becomes  more 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME        5 

animated.  Rains,  compared  with  which  the 
heaviest  precipitations  of  the  north  temperate 
zone  are  mere  drizzles,  continue  almost  inces- 
santly for  weeks;  the  plain  becomes  a  tropical 
garden,  and  the  traveller  sees  some  reasons  for 
that  part  of  the  earth's  creation. 

In  the  midst  of  these  plains,  and  a  thousand 
miles  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  are  the 
gold  mines  of  the  Randt,  richer  than  California 
and  more  valuable  than  the  Klondike.  The 
wonder  is  that  they  were  ever  discovered,  and 
almost  as  marvellous  is  it  that  any  one  should 
remain  there  sufficiently  long  to  dig  a  thou- 
sand feet  below  the  surface  to  secure  the  hid- 
den wealth.  Farther  north  are  the  undevel- 
oped countries,  Mashonaland  and  Matabeleland, 
the  great  lakes,  and  the  relics  of  the  civiliza- 
tion that  is  a  thousand  years  older  than  ours. 

According  to  the  American  standard,  the 
most  uninhabitable  part  of  South  Africa  is  the 
Transvaal,  that  inland  territory  of  sun  and  plain, 
which  has  its  only  redeeming  feature  in  its  un- 
derground wealth.  Had  Nature  placed  her 
golden  treasure  in  the  worthless  Kalahari 
Desert,  it  would  have  been  of  easier  access  than 


6  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

in  the  Transvaal,  and  worthy  of  a  plausible  ex- 
cuse. But,  excluding  the  question  of  gold,  no 
one  except  the  oppressed  Boers  ever  had  the 
weakest  reason  for  settling  in  countries  so  un- 
natural, unattractive,  and  generally  unproduc- 
tive as  the  Transvaal  and  the  Orange  Free 
State. 

Cape  Colony  and  Natal,  the  two  British 
colonies  on  the  coast,  are  the  direct  opposites 
of  the  Transvaal  and  the  Orange  Free  State 
in  physical  and  climatic  conditions.  The  colo- 
nies are  comfortably  settled,  the  soil  is  marvel- 
lously productive,  negro  labour  is  cheap,  and 
everything  combines  to  form  the  foundation 
for  a  great  nation. 

Cape  Town,  the  city  where  every  one  is 
continually  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  next  mail 
steamer  from  England,  and  the  capital  of  Cape 
Colony,  is  a  modern  city  of  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants, mostly  English.  It  was  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  country  until  Johannesburg  was  born 
in  a  day,  and  caused  it  to  become  a  mere  point 
in  transit.  The  city  has  electric  lights,  electric 
street  railways,  fine  docks,  excellent  railways 
into  the  interior,  and  all  the  other  attributes 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME        7 

of  an  English  city,  with  the  possible  exception 
that  it  requires  a  four-weeks'  passage  to  reach 
London. 

It  is  a  city  of  which  Englishmen  are  proud, 
for  its  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  is  beautiful, 
the  Government  society  is  exclusive,  "  Tommy 
Atkins  "  is  there  in  regiments,  and  the  British 
flag  floats  on  every  staff.  Cape  Town,  too,  is 
the  home  of  the  politicians  who  manage  the 
Colonial  Office,  which  in  turn  has  charge  of 
the  South  African  colonial  affairs.  Two  cable 
lines  lead  from  South  Africa  to  London,  and 
both  dive  into  the  ocean  at  Cape  Town,  where 
live  Cecil  J.  Rhodes,  Sir  Alfred  Milner,  and  the 
other  politicians  who  furnish  the  cablegrams 
and  receive  the  replies.  Farther  north  on  the 
east  coast,  about  three  days'  sail  around  the 
Cape,  is  the  colony  of  Natal,  peaceful,  para- 
disaical, and  proud.  Taken  by  conquest  from 
the  Zulus  a  half  century  ago,  it  has  already 
distanced  its  four-times-older  competitor, 
Cape  Colony,  in  almost  all  things  that  pertain 
to  the  development  of  a  country.  Being  fif- 
teen hundred  miles  farther  from  London 
than  Cape  Town,  it  has  escaped  the  political 


g  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

swash  of  that  city,  and  has  been  able  to  plough 
its  own  path  in  the  sea  of  colonial  settle- 
ment. 

Almost  all  of  Natal  is  included  in  the  fer- 
tile coast  territory,  and  consequently  has  been 
able  to  offer  excellent  inducements  to  intend- 
ing settlers.  The  majority  of  these  have  been 
Scotchmen  of  sturdy  stock,  and  these  have 
established  a  diminutive  Scotland  in  South 
Africa,  and  one  that  is  a  model  for  the  entire 
continent.  Within  the  last  year  the  colony  has 
annexed  the  adjoining  country  of  the  Zulus, 
which,  even  if  it  accomplishes  nothing  more 
practical,  increases  the  size  of  the  colony.  Dur- 
ban, the  entry  port  of  the  colony,  is  the  New- 
port of  South  Africa,  as  well  as  its  Colorado 
Springs.  Its  wide,  palm-and-flower-fringed 
streets,  its  'ricksha  Zulus,  its  magnificent  sub- 
urbs, and  its  healthful  climate  combine  to  make 
Durban  the  finest  residence  city  on  the  Dark 
Continent.  Pietermaritzburg,  the  capital  of  the 
colony,  on  the  other  hand,  has  nothing  but  its 
age  to  commend  it.  The  colony  produces  vast 
quantities  of  coffee,  tea,  sugar,  and  fruits,  al- 
most all  of  which  is  marketed  in  Johannesburg, 


SOUTH   AFRICA  OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME        g 

in  the  Transvaal,  which  is  productive  of  noth- 
ing but  gold  and  strife. 

The  Orange  Free  State,  which,  with  the 
Transvaal,  form  the  only  non-English  states  in 
South  Africa,  also  lies  in  the  plain  or  veldt 
district,  and  is  of  hardly  any  commercial  impor- 
tance. Three  decades  ago  it  found  itself  in  al- 
most the  same  situation  with  England  as  the 
Transvaal  is  to-day,  but,  unlike  the  South  Afri- 
can republic,  feared  to  demand  its  rights  from 
the  British  Government.  At  that  time  the  Kim- 
berley  diamond  mines  wTere  discovered  on  ac- 
knowledged Free  State  soil.  England  pur- 
chased an  old  native  chief's  claims,  which  had 
been  disallowed  by  a  court  of  arbitration,  and 
pushed  them  as  its  own.  The  Free  State  was 
weak,  and  agreed  to  forfeit  its  claim  in  return 
for  a  sum  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  The  mines,  now  owned  by  a  syndi- 
cate, of  which  Cecil  J.  Rhodes  is  the  head,  have 
yielded  more  than  four  hundred  million  dollars' 
worth  of  diamonds  since  the  Free  State  ceded 
them  to  England  for  less  than  half  a  million 
dollars. 

The   natives,   who   less   than   one   hundred 


I0  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

years  ago  ruled  the  whole  of  South  Africa  with 
the  exception  of  a  small  fraction  of  Cape  Col- 
ony and  several  square  miles  on  the  east  coast, 
have  been  relegated  by  the  advances  of  civiliza- 
tion, until  now  they  hold  only  small  territories, 
or  reservations,  in  the  different  colonies  and 
republics.  They  are  making  slow  progress  in 
the  arts  of  civilization,  except  in  Cape  Colony, 
where,  under  certain  conditions,  they  are  al- 
lowed to  exercise  the  franchise,  and  on  the 
whole  have  profited  but  little  by  the  advent  of 
the  whites,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  mis- 
sionaries and  governments.  They  smart  under 
the  treatment  of  the  whites,  who,  having  forci- 
bly taken  their  country  from  them,  now  compel 
them  to  pay  rental  for  the  worst  parts  of  the 
country,  to  which  they  are  circumscribed,  and 
to  wear  brass  tags,  with  numbers,  like  so  many 
cattle. 

Comparatively  few  natives  work  longer  than 
three  months  of  the  year,  and  would  not  do  that 
except  for  the  fear  of  punishment  for  non-pay- 
ment of  hut  taxes.  With  the  exception  of  those 
who  are  employed  in  the  towns  and  cities,  the 
negroes  wear  the  same  scanty  costumes  of  their 


forefathers,  and  follow  the  same  customs  and 
practices.  Witchcraft  and  superstition  still  rule 
the  minds  of  the  majority,  and  the  former  is 
practised  in  all  its  cruel  hideousness  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  although  prohibited  by  law. 

The  sale  of  rum,  the  great  American  "  civi- 
lizer  "  of  the  Indians,  is  also  prohibited  in  all 
the  states  and  colonies,  but  it  frequently  is  the 
cause  of  rebellious  and  intertribal  wars.  Not- 
withstanding the  generous  use  of  "  dum-dum  " 
bullets  in  the  recent  campaigns  against  the 
negroes,  and  the  score  of  other  agents  of  civi- 
lization which  carry  death  to  the  natives,  the 
black  population  has  increased  greatly  since 
the  control  of  the  country  has  been  taken  from 
them.  In  Natal,  particularly,  the  increase  in 
the  Zulu  population  has  been  most  threaten- 
ing to  the  continued  safety  of  that  energetic 
colony.  The  Colonial  Office,  through  gener- 
ous and  humanitarian  motives,  has  fostered  the 
development  of  the  native  by  every  means  pos- 
sible. No  rabbit  warren  or  pheasant  hatchery 
was  ever  conducted  on  a  more  modern  basis. 

Everything  that  the  most  enthusiastic  found- 
er of  a  new  colony  could  do  to  increase  the 


12  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

population  of  his  dominion  is  in  practice  in 
Natal.  Polygamy  is  not  prohibited,  and  is  in- 
dulged in  to  the  full  extent  of  the  natives'  pur- 
chasing ability.  Innumerable  magistrates  and 
police  are  scattered  throughout  the  country  to 
prevent  internecine  warfare  and  petty  quarrels. 
The  Government  protects  the  Zulu  from  ex- 
ternal war,  pestilence,  and  famine.  King  Tsha- 
ka's  drastic  method  of  recurring  to  war  in  order 
to  keep  down  the  surplus  population  has  been 
succeeded  by  the  Natal  incubation  scheme, 
which  has  proved  so  successful  that  the  colony's 
native  population  is  fourfold  greater  than  it  was 
when  Tshaka  ruled  the  country.  The  situa- 
tion is  a  grave  one  for  the  colony,  whose  fifty 
thousand  whites  would  be  like  so  many  reeds 
in  a  storm  if  the  half  million  Zulus  should  break 
the  bonds  in  which  they  have  been  held  since 
the  destruction  of  Cetewayo's  army  in  the  re- 
cent Zulu  war. 

The  only  tribe  of  natives  that  has  made  any 
progress  as  a  body  is  that  which  is  under  the 
leadership  of  King  Khama,  the  most  intelligent 
negro  in  South  Africa.  Before  his  conversion 
to  Christianity,  Khama  was  at  the  head  of  one 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME      13 

of  the  most  bloodthirsty,  polygamous,  and  ig- 
norant tribes  in  the  country.  Since  that  event 
he  has  been  the  means  of  converting  his  entire 
tribe  of  wild  and  treacherous  negroes  to  Chris- 
tianity, has  abandoned  polygamy  and  tribal  war- 
fare, and  has  established  a  government,  schools, 
churches,  and  commercial  enterprises.  In  ad- 
dition to  all  his  other  good  works,  he  has  as- 
sisted Great  Britain  in  pacifying  many  bel- 
ligerent tribes,  and  has  become  England's 
greatest  friend  in  South  Africa. 

Khama  is  the  paramount  chief  of  the  Ba- 
wangwato  tribe,  whose  territory  is  included  in 
the  British  Bechuanaland  protectorate,  situated 
about  one  thousand  miles  due  north  from  Cape 
Town.  There  are  about  fifteen  thousand  men, 
women,  and  children  in  the  kingdom,  and  every 
one  of  that  number  tries  to  emulate  the  noble 
examples  set  by  their  king,  whom  all  adore. 
The  country  and  climate  of  Khama's  Kingdom, 
as  it  is  officially  called,  are  magnificent,  and  so 
harmless  and  inoffensive  are  the  people  that 
the  traveller  is  less  exposed  to  attacks  by  ma- 
rauders than  he  is  in  the  streets  along  New 
York's  water  front. 


14  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Many  Europeans  have  settled  in  Khama's 
Kingdom  for  the  purpose  of  mining  and  trad- 
ing, and  these  have  assisted  in  placing  the 
Bawangwatos  on  a  plane  of  civilization  far  above 
and  beyond  that  attained  by  any  other  negro 
nation  or  tribe  in  tne  country.  A  form  of  gov- 
ernment has  been  adopted,  and  is  carried  out 
with  excellent  results.  The  laws,  which  must 
be  sanctioned  by  the  British  Government  be- 
fore they  can  be  put  in  force,  are  transgressed 
with  an  infrequency  that  puts  to  shame  many 
a  country  of  boasted  ancient  civilization.  Theft 
is  unknown  and  murders  are  unheard  of,  while 
drunkenness  is  to  be  seen  only  when  a  white 
man  smuggles  liquor  into  the  country.  A  pub- 
lic-school system  has  been  introduced,  and  has 
resulted  in  giving  a  fairly  good  education  to  all 
the  youth.  Even  music  is  taught,  and  several 
of  the  brass  bands  that  have  been  organized 
compare  favourably  with  such  as  are  found  in 
many  rural  communities  in  America. 

Well-regulated  farms  and  cattle  ranches  are 
located  in  all  parts  of  the  territory,  and  in  most 
instances  are  profitably  and  wisely  conducted. 
The  negroes  have  abandoned  the  use  of  beads 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME      jj 

and  skins  almost  entirely,  and  now  pattern  after 
Europeans  in  the  matter  of  clothing.  Witch- 
craft and  kindred  vices  have  not  been  practised 
for  fifty  years,  and  only  the  older  members  of 
the  tribe  know  that  such  practices  existed.  The 
remarkable  man  to  whom  is  due  the  honour 
of  having  civilized  an  entire  nation  of  heathen 
is  now  about  eighty  years  old.  He  speaks  the 
English  language  fluently,  and  writes  it  much 
more  legibly  than  his  distinguished  friend  Cecil 
Rhodes. 

Khama  is  about  six  feet  in  height,  well  pro- 
portioned, and  remarkably  strong  despite  his 
great  age.  His  skin  is  not  black,  but  of  that 
dark  copper  colour  borne  by  negro  chiefs  of 
the  royal  line.  He  has  the  bearing  of  a  noble- 
man, and  is  extremely  polite  and  affable  in  his 
treatment  of  visitors.  He  is  well  informed 
on  all  current  topics,  and  his  'knowledge  of 
South  African  men  and  affairs  is  wonderful.  In 
his  residence,  which  is  constructed  of  stone 
and  on  English  lines,  Khama  has  all  the  acces- 
sories necessary  for  a  civilized  man's  comfort. 
He  has  a  library  of  no  small  size,  a  piano 
for  his  grandchildren,  a  folding  bed  for  him- 


1 6  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

self,  and,  not  least  of  all,  an  American  carriage 
of  state. 

It  is  a  strange  anomaly  that  the  Boers,  a 
pastoral  people  exclusively,  should  have  settled 
in  a  section  of  the  earth  where  Nature  has  two 
of  her  richest  storehouses.  Both  the  Kimber- 
ley  diamond  mines  and  the  Witwatersrandt  gold 
mines,  each  the  richest  deposit  of  its  kind  dis- 
covered thus  far,  were  found  where  the  Boers 
were  accustomed  to  graze  their  herds  and  flocks. 
It  would  seem  as  if  Nature  had  influenced  the 
Boers  to  settle  above  her  treasures,  and  pro- 
tect them  from  the  attacks  of  nations  and  men 
who  are  not  satisfied  with  the  products  of  the 
earth's  surface,  but  must  delve  below. 

This  circumstance  has  been  both  fortunate 
and  unfortunate  for  the  Boer  people.  It  has 
laid  them  open  to  the  attacks  of  covetous  na- 
tions, which  have  not  been  conducive  to  a  rest- 
ful existence,  but  it  has  made  their  country 
what  it  is  to-day — the  source  from  which  all 
the  other  South  African  states  draw  their  means 
of  support.  The  Transvaal  is  the  main  wheel 
in  the  South  African  machinery.  Whenever 
the  Transvaal  is  disturbed,  Cape  Colony,  Natal, 


SOUTH   AFRICA  OF   THE    PRESENT   TIME      17 

and  the  Orange  Free  State  are  similarly  af- 
fected, because  they  are  dependent  upon  the 
Boer  country  for  almost  their  breath  of  life. 
When  the  Transvaal  flourishes,  South  Africa 
flourishes,  and  when  the  Transvaal  suffers,  then 
the  rest  of  the  country  is  in  dire  straits. 

Before  the  diamond  and  gold  mines  were 
discovered,  South  Africa  was  practically  a  cipher 
in  the  commercial  world.  The  country  ex- 
ported nothing,  because  it  produced  no  more 
than  was  needed  for  home  consumption,  and 
it  could  import  nothing  because  it  was  too  poor 
to  pay  for  imported  goods.  The  discovery  of 
the  diamond  mines  twenty-five  years  ago  caused 
the  country  to  be  in  a  flourishing  condition  for 
several  years,  but  the  formation  of  the  De 
Beers  syndicate  ended  it  by  monopolizing  the 
industry,  and  consequently  starving  the  indi- 
vidual miners.  The  country  was  about  to  re- 
lapse into  its  former  condition  when  the  Trans- 
vaal mines  were  unearthed.  No  syndicate  hav- 
ing been  strong  enough  to  consolidate  all  the 
mines  and  monopolize  the  industry,  as  was  done 
at  Kimberley,  and  the  Boers  having  resisted 
all  efforts  to  defraud  them  out  of  the  valuable 


jg  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

part  of  their  country,  as  had  happened  to  the 
Orange  Free  State  Boers,  the  Transvaal  soon 
attained  the  paramount  position  in  the  coun- 
try, and  has  retained  it  since. 

Until  Lobengula,  the  mighty  native  chief 
of  the  regions  west  of  the  Transvaal,  was  sub- 
dued and  his  country  taken  from  him,  the  Brit- 
ish empire  builders  were  limited  in  their  field 
of  endeavour,  because  the  Transvaal  was  the 
only  pass  through  which  an  entry  could  be 
made  into  the  vast  Central  African  region. 
When  Lobengula's  power  yielded  to  British 
arms,  the  Transvaal  became  useless  as  the  key 
to  Central  Africa,  but,  by  means  of  its  great 
mineral  wealth,  became  of  so  much  greater  and 
more  practical  importance  that  it  really  was 
the  entire  South  Africa. 

The  Witwatersrandt,*  the  narrow  strip  of 
gold-bearing  soil  which  extends  for  almost  one 
hundred  miles  east  and  west  through  the  Trans- 
vaal, is  the  lever  which  moves  the  entire  coun- 

*  Witwatersrandt  is  the  name  given  to  the  high  ridge  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  Transvaal,  which  is  the  watershed 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Indian  Oceans.  The  word  means 
"whitewater  ridge,"  and  is  commonly  abridged  to  "The 
Randt." 


SOUTH    AFRICA   OF   THE   PBESENT   TIME      ig 

try.  In  the  twelve  years  since  its  discovery  it 
has  been  transformed  from  a  grass-covered  plain 
into  a  territory  that  is  filled  with  cities,  towns, 
and  villages.  Where  the  Boer  farmer  was  ac- 
customed to  graze  his  cattle  are  hundreds  of 
shafts  that  lead  to  the  golden  caverns  below, 
and  the  trail  of  the  ox-team  is  now  the  track 
of  the  locomotive  and  the  electric  cars. 

The  farmer's  cottage  has  developed  into 
the  city  of  Johannesburg,  the  home  of  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  persons  and  the 
metropolis  of  a  continent.  All  the  roads  in 
South  Africa  lead  to  Johannesburg,  and  over 
them  travels  every  one  who  enters  the  country 
either  for  pleasure  or  business.  The  Trans- 
vaal is  the  only  great  producer  of  money,  as 
well  as  the  only  great  consumer,  and  conse- 
quently all  other  communities  in  the  country 
are  dependent  upon  it  for  whatever  money  it 
chooses  to  yield  to  them.  The  natural  condi- 
tions are  such,  however,  that,  while  the  Trans- 
vaal has  almost  all  the  money  in  South  Africa, 
it  is  compelled  to  support  Cape  Colony,  Natal, 
and  the  Orange  Free  State  like  so  many  poor 
relations. 


2o  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

The  Transvaal,  being  an  inland  state,  is  the 
feeding  ground  of  those  states  which  are  lo- 
cated between  it  and  the  sea.  Every  ton  of 
foreign  freight  that  enters  the  Transvaal  through 
Cape  Colony  is  subject  to  high  customs  duties 
and  abnormal  freight  rates.  The  railway  and 
the  customs  house  being  under  the  same  juris- 
diction, it  will  readily  be  seen  to  what  extent 
Cape  Colony  derives  its  revenues  from  the 
Transvaal  commerce.  The  Orange  Free  State 
again  taxes  the  freight  before  allowing  it  to 
pass  through  its  territory.  The  third  tax,  which 
makes  the  total  far  greater  than  the  original 
cost  of  the  freight,  is  added  by  the  Transvaal 
Government.  Certain  classes  of  freight  shipped 
from  Europe  are  taxed  by  the  steamship  line, 
the  Cape  Colony  Railroad,  the  Transvaal  Rail- 
road, and  with  Cape  Colony,  Orange  Free  State, 
and  Transvaal  customs  duties. 

This  vast  expenditure  is  borne  by  the  con- 
sumers in  the  Transvaal,  who  are  compelled 
to  pay  from  three  to  five  times  as  much  for 
rent  and  food  as  is  paid  in  England  or  America. 
Cape  Colony,  in  particular,  has  been  fattening 
upon  the  Transvaal.  The  Government  rail- 


SOUTH   AFRICA  OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME     21 

roads  in  one  year  showed  a  profit  of  more  than 
eight  per  cent,  upon  the  capital  invested,  after 
accounting  for  the  great  losses  incurred  with 
unprofitable  branch  lines,  showing  that  the 
main  line  to  the  Transvaal  must  have  produced 
a  profit  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent.  The 
customs  duties  collected  by  Cape  Colony  on 
almost  all  freight  in  transit  is  five  per  cent,  of 
its  value.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Transvaal  are 
obliged  to  pay  these  large  amounts,  and  are 
so  much  poorer  while  the  Cape  Colony  Gov- 
ernment preys  upon  them.  The  Transvaal 
Government  receives  none  of  this  revenue  ex- 
cept that  from  its  customs,  which  is  insufficient 
for  its  expenses. 

After  having  grown  wealthy  in  this  man- 
ner, the  colony  of  Natal  has  recently  become 
conscience-smitten,  and  allows  freight  to  pass 
in  transit  without  taxing  it  with  customs  duties. 
The  Government  owns  the  railroad,  and  is  con- 
tent with  the  revenue  it  secures  from  the  Trans- 
vaal freight  without  twice  preying  upon  the 
republic. 

Not  only  have  the  colonial  governments 
profited  by  the  existence  of  the  gold  mines  in 


22  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

the  Transvaal,  but  the  cities,  towns,  and  indi- 
viduals of  Cape  Colony,  Natal,  and  the  Orange 
Free  State  have  also  had  a  period  of  unpar- 
alleled prosperity.  Although  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  Transvaal  are  very  great,  they 
have  not  been  developed,  and  the  other  colo- 
nies which  have  been  developed  along  those 
lines  are  supplying  the  deficit.  Almost  every 
ounce  of  food  consumed  in  the  Transvaal  ar- 
rives from  over  the  border.  Natal  and  Cape 
Colony  supply  the  corn,  wheat,  cattle,  and 
sugar,  and,  having  a  monopoly  of  the  supply 
close  at  hand,  can  command  any  price  for  their 
commodities. 

Industries  have  grown  up  in  Natal  and 
Cape  Colony  that  are  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  Transvaal  for  their  existence,  and  their 
establishment  has  been  responsible  for  much 
of  the  recent  growth  of  the  population  of  the 
colonies.  The  large  sugar  factories  and  fruit 
farms  in  Natal  have  the  only  market  for  their 
products  in  the  Transvaal,  and  the  large  farms 
and  vineyards  in  Cape  Colony  supply  the  same 
demand.  The  ports  of  Durban,  Port  Eliza- 
beth, and  East  London,  as  well  as  Cape  Town, 


SOUTH   AFRICA   OF   THE   PRESENT   TIME     23 

are  important  only  as  forwarding  stations  for 
goods  going  or  coming  from  the  Transvaal, 
and  but  for  that  Godsend  they  would  still  be 
the  listless  cities  that  they  were  before  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  on  the  Randt.  Owing  to  the 
lack  of  raw  material,  the  cities  have  no  large 
factories  and  industries  such  as  are  found  even 
in  small  American  towns,  and  consequently  the 
inhabitants  are  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  traf- 
fic with  the  interior.  Notwithstanding  this 
condition  of  affairs,  which  causes  Natal  and 
Cape  Colony  to  be  commercial  weaklings, 
swayed  by  the  Transvaal  tide,  the  colonists  are 
continually  harassing  the  Government  of  the 
republic  by  laws  and  suggestions.  The  repub- 
lic's mote  is  always  bigger  than  the  colonies' 
own,  and  the  strife  is  never-ending. 

The  Transvaal  is  a  country  of  such  enor- 
mous value  that  it  has  attracted,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  attract,  investors  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth.  The  gold  production,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  first  experts  on  the  Randt,  will  rapidly 
reach  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  million  dol- 
lars a  year.  It  already  yields  one  hundred 
million  a  year,  or  more  than  a  third  of  the 


24  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

world's  production,  of  which  the  United  States 
is  credited  with  less  than  seventy-five  million. 
The  very  fact  of  that  production,  and  the  world 
being  enriched  to  that  extent,  will  provide  the 
money  for  further  enterprises.  So  long  as 
the  gold  supply  continues  to  appear  inex- 
haustible, and  mines  continue  to  pay  divi- 
dends ranging  from  one  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  per  cent.,  so  long  will  the  Transvaal  re- 
main supreme  in  the  commerce  and  finance  of 
South  Africa. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BOER  RACE 

THE  early  history  of  the  Boers  is  contem- 
poraneous with  that  of  the  progress  of  white 
man's  civilization  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
The  two  are  interwoven  to  such  an  extent 
and  for  so  long  a  time  that  it  is  well-nigh 
impossible  to  separate  them.  In  order  to  give 
an  unwearisome  history  of  the  modern  Boer's 
ancestors,  a  general  outline  of  the  settlement 
of  the  Cape  will  suffice. 

The  history  of  the  Boers  of  South  Africa 
has  its  parallel  in  that  of  the  early  Pilgrims 
who  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock  and  their  de- 
scendants. The  comparison  favours  the  lat- 
ter, it  is  true,  but  the  conditions  which  con- 
fronted the  early  Boers  were  so  much  less 
favourable  that  their  lack  of  realization  may 
easily  be  accounted  for.  In  the  early  part  of 

the  seventeenth  century  the  progenitors  of  the 

25 


26  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Boers  and  the  Pilgrims  left  their  continental 
homes  to  seek  freedom  from  religious  tyranny 
on  foreign  shores. 

The  boat  load  of  Pilgrims  left  England  to 
come  to  America  and  found  the  freedom  they 
sought.  About  the  same  time  a  small  num- 
ber of  Dutch  and  Huguenot  refugees  from 
France  departed  from  Holland  for  similar  rea- 
sons, and  decided  to  seek  their  fortunes  and 
religious  freedom  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
There  they  found  the  liberty  they  desired,  and, 
like  the  Pilgrims,  assiduously  set  to  work  to 
clear  the  land  and  institute  the  works  of  a 
civilized  community. 

The  experiences  of  the  two  widely  sepa- 
rated colonists  appear  painfully  similar,  al- 
though to  them  they  were  undoubtedly  pref- 
erable to  the  persecutions  inflicted  upon  them 
in  their  native  countries.  The  Pilgrims  were 
constantly  harassed  by  the  savage  Indians; 
the  Dutch  and  Huguenots  at  the  Cape  had 
treacherous  Hottentots  and  Bushmen  to  con- 
tend against.  Although  probably  ignorant  of 
each  other's  existence,  the  two  parties  con- 
ducted their  affairs  on  similar  lines  and  reached 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY  OF   THE   BOER   RACE     27 

a  common  result — a  good  local  government 
and  a  reasonable  state  of  material  prosperity. 

The  little  South  African  settlement  be- 
came of  recognised  importance  in  the  later 
years  of  the  century,  when  it  was  made  the 
halfway  station  of  all  ships  going  to  and  re- 
turning from  the  East  Indies.  The  neces- 
sity for  such  a  station  was  the  foundation  of 
the  growth  of  the  settlement  at  Table  Bay, 
which  is  only  a  short  distance  from  the  south- 
ernmost extremity  of  the  continent,  and  the 
increase  in  population  came  as  a  natural  se- 
quence. 

The  Dutch  East  India  Settlement,  as  it 
was  officially  called,  attracted  hundreds  of  im- 
migrants. The  reports  of  a  salubrious  climate, 
good  soil,  and,  more  than  all,  the  promised 
religious  toleration,  were  the  allurements  that 
brought  more  immigrants  from  Holland,  Ger- 
many, and  France.  Cape  Town  even  then  was 
one  of  the  most  important  ports  in  the  world, 
owing  to  its  great  strategic  value  and  to  the 
fact  that  it  was  about  the  only  port  where 
vessels  making  the  long  trip  to  the  East  In- 
dies could  secure  even  the  scantiest  supplies. 


28  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

The  provisioning  of  ships  was  responsible,  in 
no  small  degree,  for  the  growth  of  Cape  Town 
and  the  coincident  increase  in  immigration. 

When  all  the  available  land  between  Table 
Mountain  and  Table  Bay  was  settled,  the  new 
arrivals  naturally  took  up  the  land  to  the 
northward,  and  drove  the  bellicose  natives  be- 
fore them.  Like  their  Pilgrim  prototypes, 
they  instituted  military  organizations  to  cope 
with  the  natives,  and  they  were  not  infrequent- 
ly called  upon  for  active  duty  against  them. 
It  was  owing  to  this  savage  disposition  of 
the  natives  that  the  settlers  confined  their 
endeavours  to  the  vicinity  of  Table  Bay. 

When  immigrants  became  more  numerous 
and  land  increased  in  value,  the  pilgrims  of 
more  daring  disposition  proceeded  inland,  and 
soon  carried  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the 
settlement  close  to  the  Orange  River.  The 
soil  around  Table  Bay  was  extremely  rich, 
but  farther  inland  it  became  barren  and,  by 
reason  of  the  many  lofty  table-lands,  almost 
uninhabitable.  The  Bushmen,  too,  were  con- 
stantly attacking  the  encroaching  settlers, 
whose  lives  were  filled  with  anything  but 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     29 

thoughts  of  safety,  and  high  in  the  northern 
side  of  Table  Mountain  is  to  be  seen  to-day 
an  old-time  fort  that  was  erected  by  the  set- 
tlers to  ward  off  natives'  attacks  upon  Cape 
Town. 

The  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which 
controlled  the  settlement,  looked  with  disfa- 
vour upon  the  enlargement  of  the  original 
boundary  of  the  colony,  and  attempted  to  en- 
force laws  preventing  such  action.  The  settlers 
in  the  outlying  district  felt  that  they  owed  no 
allegiance  to  the  laws  of  the  colony  in  which 
they  did  not  live,  and  refused  to  obey  the 
company's  mandates.  Then  followed  a  long- 
drawn-out  controversy  between  the  settlers 
and  the  East  India  Company,  which  resembled 
in  many  respects  the  differences  between  Eng- 
land and  her  American  colony. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  oppression 
that  the  settlers  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
first  exhibited  the  betokening  signs  of  a  nation. 
The  communities  of  Hollanders,  Germans,  and 
French  were  constantly  in  such  close  communi- 
cation with  one  another  that  each  lost  its  dis- 
tinguishing marks  and  adopted  the  new  man- 


30  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ners  and  customs  which  were  their  collective 
coinage.  They  suffered  the  same  indignities 
at  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company,  and 
naturally  their  sympathies  drew  them  into  a 
closer  bond  of  fellowship,  so  that  almost  all 
national  and  racial  differences  were  wiped  out. 

Never  in  the  history  of  South  Africa  were 
all  things  so  favourable  for  the  establishment 
of  a  truly  Afrikander  nation  and  government. 
A  leader  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  continental  control,  but  none 
was  forthcoming. 

At  this  propitious  time  the  Napoleonic 
wars  in  Europe  resulted  so  disastrously  for 
France  that  she  was  compelled  to  cede  to 
England  the  South  African  settlement,  which 
had  been  acquired  with  the  annexation  of 
Holland,  and  the  settlers  believed  their  hour 
of  deliverance  from  tyranny  had  arrived.  They 
hailed  the  coming  of  the  British  forces  with 
hopes  for  the  improvement  of  their  conditions, 
fondly  believing  that  the  British  could  treat 
them  with  no  greater  severity  than  that  which 
they  had  suffered  under  the  rule  of  the  Dutch 
Company. 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY  OF   THE   BOER   RACE     31 

But  their  hopes  were  short-lived  after  the 
British  garrison  occupied  Cape  Town,  and  they 
soon  learned  that  they  had  escaped  from  one 
kind  of  torment  and  oppression  only  to  be 
burdened  with  another  more  harassing.  The 
British  administrators  found  a  friendly  people, 
eager  to  become  British  subjects,  and,  by  ex- 
ercise of  undue  authority,  quickly  transformed 
them  into  desperate  enemies  of  British  rule. 
The  American  colonies  had  but  a  short  time 
before  taught  British  colonial  statesmen  a  dire 
lesson,  but  it  was  not  applied  to  the  South 
African  colony,  and  the  mistake  has  never 
been  remedied. 

Had  the  lesson  learned  in  America  been 
applied  at  that  time,  British  rule  would  now 
be  supreme  in  South  Africa,  and  the  two  re- 
publics which  are  the  eyesore  of  every  Eng- 
lishman in  the  country  would  probably  never 
have  come  into  existence.  The  British  ad- 
ministrators ruled  the  colony  as  they  had  been 
taught  in  London,  and  allowed  no  local  im- 
pediments to  swerve  them.  The  result  of  this 
method  of  government  was  that  the  Boer  set- 
tlers, who  had  opinions  of  their  own,  became 


.32  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

bitterly  opposed  to  the  British  rule.  The  ad- 
ministrators attempted  to  coerce  the  Boers, 
and  formulated  laws  which  were  meat  to  the 
newly  arrived  English  immigrants  and  poison 
to  the  old  settlers. 

One  of  the  indirect  causes  of  the  first  Boer 
uprising  against  the  British  Government  at 
the  Cape  was  the  slavery  question.  In  the 
Transvaal  there  is  a  national  holiday — March 
6th — to  commemorate  the  uprising  of  1816, 
and  it  is  known  throughout  the  country  as 
"Slagter's  Nek  Day."  To  the  Boers  it  is  a 
day  of  sad  memory,  and  the  recurrence  of  it 
does  not  soften  their  enmity  of  the  English 
nation. 

In  October,  1815,  a  Boer  farmer  named 
Frederick  Bezuidenhout  was  summoned  to  ap- 
pear in  a  local  court  to  answer  a  charge  of 
maltreating  a  native.  The  Boer  refused  to 
obey  the  summons,  and,  with  a  sturdy  native, 
awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Government  authori- 
ties in  a  cave  near  his  home.  A  lieutenant 
named  Rousseau  and  twenty  soldiers  found 
the  Boer  and  the  native  in  the  cave,  and  de- 
manded their  surrender.  Bezuidenhout  refused 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE 


33 


to  surrender,  and  he  was  almost  instantly 
killed. 

When  the  news  of  his  death  reached  his 
friends  they  became  greatly  aroused,  and,  arm- 
ing themselves,  vowed  to  expel  the  English 
"  tyrants "  from  the  country.  The  English 
soldiers  captured  five  of  the  leaders,  and  on 
March  6,  1816,  hanged  them  on  the  same 
scaffold  at  Slagter's  Nek,  a  name  afterward 
given  to  the  locality  because  of  the  bungling 
work  of  the  hangmen  and  the  ghastly  scenes 
presented  when  the  scaffold  fell  to  the  ground, 
bearing  with  it  the  half-dead  prisoners. 

The  story  of  this  event  in  the  Boer  history 
is  as  familiar  to  the  Dutch  schoolboy  as  that 
of  the  Boston  Tea-Party  is  to  the  American 
lad,  and  its  repetition  never  fails  to  arouse  a 
Boer  audience  to  the  highest  degree  of  anger. 

The  primal  cause  of  the  departure  of  the 
Boers  from  Cape  Colony,  or  the  "  Great 
Trek,"  *  as  it  is  popularly  known,  was  the  ill 
treatment  which  they  received  from  the  Brit- 

*  To  trek  is  to  travel  from  place  to  place  in  ox-wagons. 
A  trek  generally  refers  to  an  organized  migration  of  settlers 
to  another  part  of  the  country. 


34  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ish  administration  in  connection  with  the 
emancipation  of  their  slaves  and  the  depreda- 
tions of  hordes  of  thieving  native  tribes.  The 
Boers  had  agreed  about  1830  to  emancipate 
all  their  slaves,  and  they  had  received  from 
the  British  Government  promises  of,  ample 
compensation. 

After  the  slaves  had  been  freed,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Boer  farmers  had  become  bank- 
rupt by  the  proceeding,  the  Government  of- 
fered less  than  half  the  promised  compensa- 
tion. The  Boers  naturally  and  indignantly 
refused  to  accept  less  than  the  amounts  Eng- 
land had  promised  of  her  own  free  will.  The 
Boers  felt  sorely  aggrieved,  but,  being  in  the 
minority  in  the  colony,  could  secure  no  redress. 
Several  years  after  the  slaves  had  been  freed 
great  hordes  of  thieving  natives  swept  across 
the  frontiers,  and  in  several  months  inflicted 
these  losses  upon  the  farmers:  706  farmhouses 
partially  or  totally  destroyed  by  fire;  60  farm 
wagons  destroyed;  5,713  horses,  112,000  head 
of  cattle,  and  162,000  sheep  stolen. 

The  value  of  the  property  destroyed  and 
stolen  by  the  blacks  amounted  to  almost  two 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     35 

million  dollars.  Much  of  the  live  stock  was 
recovered  by  the  Boer  farmers,  who  had  the 
boldness  to  pursue  the  robbers  into  their 
mountain  fastnesses,  but  the  Government  did 
not  allow  them  to  hold  even  such  cattle  as 
they  identified  as  having  been  driven  away  by 
the  natives,  but  compelled  them  to  yield  all 
to  the  Government.  When  they  asked  for 
compensation  for  restoring  ,the  property  to 
the  Government,  the  Boers  received  such  a 
promise  from  the  governor,  D'Urban;  but  Lord 
Glenelg,  the  British  colonial  secretary,  vetoed 
the  suggestion,  and  informed  the  Boers  that 
their  conduct  in  recovering  the  stolen  prop- 
erty was  outrageous  and  unworthy  of  English 
subjects. 

Even  Boer  disposition,  inured  as  it  was  to 
all  kinds  of  unrighteousness,  could  not  fail  to 
take  notice  of  this  crowning  insult.  They  con- 
sulted among  themselves,  and  it  was  decided 
to  leave  the  colony  where  they  had  suffered 
so  many  wrongs.  Accordingly,  in  the  spring 
of  1835  they  sacrificed  their  farms  at  what- 
ever prices  they  could  secure  for  them,  and  an- 
nounced to  Lieutenant-Governor  Stockenstrom 


36  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

their  intention  of  departing  to  another  sec- 
tion of  the  country. 

To  be  certain  that  they  would  be  free  from 
British  interference,  the  Boer  leaders  applied 
to  the  lieutenant-governor  for  his  opinion  on 
the  subject,  and  he  informed  them  that  they 
were  free  to  leave  the  colony,  and  that  as 
soon  as  they  stepped  across  the  border  Eng- 
land ceased  to  be  their  master.  Later,  Eng- 
lishmen have  sagely  declared  that  the  Boers 
having  once  been  British  subjects  always  re- 
mained such,  whether  they  lived  on  British  or 
Transvaal  soil.  The  objects  of  the  expedition 
were  set  forth  in  a  document  published  in 
1837  by  Piet  Retief,  its  leader.  It  reads,  in 
part,  as  follows: 

"  We  despair  of  saving  the  colony  from 
those  evils  which  threaten  it  by  the  turbulent 
and  dishonest  conduct  of  native  vagrants  who 
are  allowed  to  infest  the  country  in  every  part; 
nor  do  we  see  any  prospect  of  peace  or  hap- 
piness for  our  children  in  a  country  thus  dis- 
tracted by  internal  commotions. 

"  We  complain  of  the  continual  system  of 
plunder  which  we  have  for  years  endured  from 


THE   EARLY    HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER    RACE 


37 


the  Kaffirs  and  other  coloured  classes,  and 
particularly  by  the  last  invasion  of  the  colony, 
which  has  desolated  the  frontier  districts  and 
ruined  most  of  the  inhabitants. 

"  We  complain  of  the  unjustifiable  odium 
which  has  been  cast  upon  us  by  interested  and 
dishonest  persons  under  the  name  of  religion, 
whose  testimony  is  believed  in  England,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  evidence  in  our  favour, 
and  we  can  foresee  as  a  result  of  this  preju- 
dice nothing  but  the  total  ruin  of  the  country. 

"  We  are  now  leaving  the  fruitful  land  of 
our  birth,  in  which  we  have  suffered  enor- 
mous losses  and  continual  vexations,  and  are 
about  to  enter  a  strange  and  dangerous  terri- 
tory; but  we  go  with  a  firm  reliance  on  an 
all-seeing,  just,  and  merciful  God,  whom  we 
shall  always  fear  and  humbly  endeavour  to 
obey." 

The  first  "  trekking  "  party,  or  the  "  Voor- 
trekkers,"  consisted  of  about  two  hundred  per- 
sons under  the  leadership  of  Andries  Hendrik 
Potgieter.  These  crossed  the  Orange  River 
and  settled  in  that  part  of  the  country  now 
known  as  the  Orange  Free  State.  This  party 


38  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

had  many  battles  with  the  natives,  but  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  a  level  although  not  par- 
ticularly arable  stretch  of  land  near  Thaba'nt- 
shu  for  settlement. 

In  August,  1836,  after  remaining  a  short 
time  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Thaba'ntshu,  a 
number  of  the  settlers  became  dissatisfied 
with  their  location  and  "  trekked "  farther 
north  toward  the  Vaal  River,  which  is  the 
present  northern  boundary  of  the  Orange  Free 
State.  Before  they  had  proceeded  a  great  dis- 
tance they  were  attacked  by  the  Matabele 
natives  under  Chief  Moselekatse,  and  fifty  of 
their  number  were  slain. 

When  the  news  of  the  slaughter  reached 
the  main  body  of  the  settlers  a  "  laager,"  or 
improvised  fort,  was  formed  by  locking  to- 
gether the  fifty  big  transport  wagons  that  had 
been  brought  from  Cape  Colony.  Behind 
these  the  men,  women,  and  children  fought 
side  by  side  against  the  innumerable  Mata- 
beles,  and  after  a  desperate  battle  succeeded  in 
defeating  them.  The  natives  captured  and  drove 
away  about  ten  thousand  head  of  cattle  and  sheep 
— almost  the  entire  wealth  of  the  settlers. 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE      39 

The  settlement,  however,  increased  rapidly 
in  population,  and,  several  years  after  the  first 
Boers  arrived  there,  application  was  made  for 
English  protection.  It  was  granted  to  them, 
but  was  withdrawn  again  in  1854,  when  the 
British  colonial  secretary  decided  that  Eng- 
land had  more  African  land  than  was  desirable. 
The  Boers  begged  to  be  retained  as  an  Eng- 
lish colony,  but  in  vain,  and  the  fifteen  thou- 
sand inhabitants  were  compelled  to  establish 
a  government  of  their  own,  which  is  to-day 
embodied  in  that  of  the  Orange  Free  State. 

Since  that  memorable  day  in  1854,  when 
the  British  flag  was  hauled  down  from  the 
flagstaff  at  the  Bloemfontein  fort,  both  the 
British  and  the  Boers  have  had  revulsions  of 
feeling.  The  British  regret  that  their  flag  is 
absent  from  the  fort,  and  the  Boers  will  yield 
their  lives  before  they  ever  allow  it  to  be 
raised  again. 

The  second  expedition,  and  the  one  which 
comprised  the  founders  of  the  South  African 
Republic,  departed  from  Cape  Colony  in  the 
fall  of  1835,  with  no  fixed  destination  in  view, 
but  with  a  general  idea  to  settle  somewhere 


40  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

outside  the  realm  of  British  influence.  The 
"  trekkers  "  were  under  the  leadership  of  Piet 
Retief,  a  man  of  considerable  wealth  and  exec- 
utive ability,  who  determined  to  lead  them 
across  the  untravelled  Dragon  Mountain,  in 
the  east  of  the  colony. 

In  this  party  were  three  families  of  Krugers, 
and  among  them  the  present  President  of  the 
South  African  Republic,  then  a  boy  of  ten 
years.  After  many  skirmishes  with  the  na- 
tives, Retief  and  his  followers  reached  Port 
Natal,  the  site  of  the  present  beautiful  city  of 
Durban,  where  they  were  welcomed  by  the 
members  of  the  English  settlement  who  had 
established  themselves  on  the  edge  of  Zululand 
as  an  independent  organization.  The  handful 
of  British  immigrants  were  overjoyed  to  have 
this  addition  to  the  forces  which  were  neces- 
sary to  hold  the  natives  in  subjection,  and 
they  induced  the  majority  of  the  Boers  to  set- 
tle in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Natal. 

Retief  and  his  leaders  were  pleased  with 
the  location  and  the  richness  of  the  soil,  and 
finally  determined  to  remain  there  if  the  na- 
tive chiefs  could  be  induced  to  enter  into 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     41 

treaties  transferring  all  rights  to  the  soil.  Din- 
gaan,  a  warlike  native,  was  the  chief  of  the 
tribes  surrounding  Port  Natal,  and  to  him 
Retief  applied  for  the  grant  of  territory  which 
was  to  be  the  future  home  of  the  several  thou- 
sand "  trekkers  "  who  had  by  that  time  jour- 
neyed over  Dragon  Mountain.  Retief  and  his 
party  of  seventy,  and  thirty  native  servants, 
reached  Dingaan's  capital  in  January,  1838, 
and  took  with  them  as  a  peace-offering  several 
hundred  head  of  cattle  which  had  been  stolen 
from  Dingaan  by  another  tribe  and  recovered 
by  Retief. 

Dingaan  treated  the  Boers  with  great  cour- 
tesy, and  profusely  thanked  them  for  recover- 
ing his  stolen  cattle.  After  several  interviews 
he  ceded  to  the  Boers  the  large  territory  from 
the  Tugela  to  the  Umzimvubu  River,  from  the 
Dragon  Mountain  to  the  sea.  This  territory 
included  almost  the  entire  colony  of  Natal,  as 
now  constituted,  and  was  one  of  the  richest 
parts  of  South  Africa. 

On  February  4,  1838,  when  the  treaty  had 
been  signed  and  the  Boer  leaders  were  being 
entertained  by  the  chief  in  his  hut,  a  typical 


42  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

massacre  by  the  natives  was  enacted.  At  a 
signal  from  Dingaan,  which  is  recorded  as  hav- 
ing been  "  Bulala  abatagati  "  ("  Slay  the  white 
devils!"),  the  Zulus  sprang  upon  the  unarmed 
Boers  and  massacred  the  seventy  men  with 
assegais  and  clubs  before  they  could  make  the 
slightest  resistance. 

Frenzied  by  the  sight  of  the  white  men's 
blood,  the  Zulu  chieftain  gathered  his  hordes 
in  warlike  preparation,  and  determined  to  drive 
all  the  white  settlers  out  of  the  country.  A 
large  "  impi,"  or  war  party,  was  despatched  to 
attack  and  exterminate  the  remaining  whites 
in  their  camps  on  the  Tugela  and  Bushmans 
Rivers.  These  latter,  while  anxiously  await- 
ing Retief s  return,  were  in  no  fear  of  hostili- 
ties, and  the  men  for  the  most  part  were  ab- 
sent from  their  camps  on  hunting  trips. 

The  "  impi "  swept  down  upon  the  camps 
by  night,  and  murder  of  the  foulest  descrip- 
tion prevailed.  The  Zulus  spared  none;  men, 
women,  and  children,  cattle,  goats,  sheep,  and 
dogs — all  fell  under  the  ruthless  assegais  in  the 
hands  of  the  treacherous  savages.  In  the  con- 
fusion and  darkness  a  few  of  the  Boers  escaped, 


THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE   BOER  RACE     43 

among  them  having  been  the  Pretorius  and 
Rensburg  families,  which  have  since  been  high 
in  the  councils  of  the  Boer  nation.  Four- 
teen men  and  boys  took  refuge  on  a  hill  now 
called  Rensburg  Kop,  and  held  their  as- 
sailants at  bay  while  they  improvised  a 
"  laager." 

When  their  ammunition  was  almost  ex- 
pended and  their  spirit  exhausted,  a  white 
man  on  horseback  was  observed  in  the  rear 
of  the  Zulu  warriors.  The  hard-pressed  emi- 
grants signalled  to  him,  and  his  ready  mind, 
strained  to  the  utmost  tension,  grasped  the 
situation  at  a  glance.  He  fearlessly  turned  his 
horse  and  rode  to  the  abandoned  wagons,  al- 
most a  mile  away,  to  secure  some  of  the  am- 
munition that  had  been  left  behind  by  the 
Boers  when  they  were  attacked  by  the  Zulus. 
He  loaded  himself  and  his  horse  with  powder 
and  ball  from  the  wagons,  and  with  a  courage 
that  has  never  been  surpassed  rode  headlong 
through  the  Zulu  battle  lines  and  bore  to  the 
beleaguered  Boers  the  means  of  their  subse- 
quent salvation.  That  night  the  fearless  rider 
assisted  the  fourteen  Boers  in  routing  the 


44  COM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Zulus,  and  when  morning  dawned  not  a  sin- 
gle living  Zulu  was  to  be  seen. 

The  hero  of  that  ride  was  Marthinus  Oos- 
thuyse,  and  his  fame  in  South  Africa  rivals 
that  of  Paul  Revere  in  American  history. 
With  the  coming  of  the  day  the  scattered 
emigrants  congregated  in  a  large  "  laager," 
and  for  several  days  were  engaged  in  beating 
off  the  attacks  of  the  unsatiated  Zulus.  Wives, 
daughters,  and  sweethearts  served  the  ammu- 
nition to  the  men,  and  with  hatchets  and  clubs 
aided  them  in  the  uneven  struggle. 

After  the  Zulus'  spirit  had  been  broken 
and  they  commenced  to  retreat,  the  gallant 
pioneers,  their  strength  now  increased  by  the 
addition  of  many  stragglers,  pursued  their  late 
assailants  and  killed  hundreds  of  them.  The 
town  of  Weenen,  in  Natal,  takes  its  name 
from  the  weeping  of  the  Boers  for  their  dead. 
Rightly  was  it  named,  for  no  less  than  six 
hundred  of  the  emigrants  were  massacred  by 
the  Zulus  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  present 
site  of  the  town. 

While  this  massacre  was  in  progress  Din- 
gaan  and  another  part  of  his  vast  and  well- 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     45 

trained  army  set  out  to  wreak  destruction 
upon  the  main  body  of  the  Boers  which  was 
still  encamped  upon  the  Dragon  Mountain 
waiting  for  the  return  of  Retief  and  his  party. 
When  the  news  of  the  massacre  reached  the 
main  body,  Pieter  Uys  and  Potgieter  hastened 
to  re-enforce  their  distressed  countrymen.  They 
were  not  molested  on  the  way,  and  had  am- 
ple time  to  marshal  all  the  Boer  forces  in 
the  country  and  make  preparations  for  venge- 
ance upon  the  savages. 

A  force  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  men 
was  raised,  and  this  set  out  in 'the  month  of 
April,  1838,  to  attack  Dingaan  in  his  strong- 
hold. The  Zulu  army  was  encountered  near 
the  King's  "  Great  Place."  The  small  army 
of  Boers  rode  to  within  twenty  yards  of  the 
van  of  the  Zulus  and  then  opened  a  steady 
and  deadly  fire.  The  savage  weapons  were  no 
match  for  the  poor  yet  superior  firearms  of 
the  Boers,  and  in  a  short  time  Dingaan's 
army  was  in  full  retreat.  In  pursuing  them 
the  Boers  became  separated  and  had  great 
difficulty  in  fighting  their  way  back  to  the 
main  camp. 


46  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

The  story  of  how  Pieter  Uys  was  wounded 
by  an  assegai,  and  how  his  son,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  save  him,  was  pierced  by  a  spear,  is 
one  of  the  noblest  examples  of  heroism  in  the 
annals  of  South  Africa.  There  were  several 
more  skirmishes  with  the  Zulus,  but  the  battle 
that  broke  the  strength  of  the  tribe  was  fought 
on  December  16,  1838.  There  were  but  four 
hundred  and  sixty  Boers  in  the  army  that 
attacked  Dingaan's  army  of  twelve  thousand, 
but  the  attack  was  so  minutely  planned  and 
so  admirably  executed  that  the  smaller  force 
overwhelmed  the  greater  and  won  the  victory, 
which  is  annually  observed  on  "  Dingaan's 
Day." 

The  Boers  lay  fortified  in  a  "  laager,"  and 
with  unusual  fortitude  withstood  the  terrific 
onslaughts  of  the  thousands  of  Zulus.  Finally 
a  cavalry  charge  of  two  hundred  Boers  cre- 
ated a  panic  in  the  Zulu  army,  and  they  re- 
treated precipitously  toward  the  Blood  River, 
which  was  so  named  because  its  waters  liter- 
ally ran  red  with  the  life  fluid  of  four  hundred 
warriors  who  were  shot  on  its  banks  or  while 
attempting  to  ford  it.  On  that  day  three 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     47 

thousand  Zulus  perished,  and  Dingaan  made 
his  ruin  still  more  complete  by  burning  his 
capital  and  hiding  with  his  straggling  army 
in  the  wilderness  beyond  the  Tugela  River. 

After  these  grave  experiences  the  Boer 
settlers  believed  themselves  to  be  the  rightful 
owners  of  the  country  which  they  had  first 
sought  to  obtain  by  peaceful  methods  and 
afterward  been  compelled  to  take  by  sterner 
ones.  But  when  they  reached  Port  Natal  they 
found  that  the  British  Government  had  taken 
possession  of  the  country,  and  had  issued  a 
manifesto  that  the  immigrant  Boers  were  to 
be  treated  as  a  conquered  race,  and  that  their 
arms  and  ammunition  should  be  confiscated. 

To  the  Boers,  who  had  just  made  the 
country  valuable  by  clearing  it  of  the  Zulus, 
this  high-handed  action  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment had  the  appearance  of  persecution,  and 
they  naturally  resented  it,  although  they  were 
almost  powerless  to  oppose  it  by  force  of  arms. 

The  Boer  leader,  Commandant-General  Pre- 
torius,  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  first 
"  Volksraad  " — a  governing  body  elected  while 
the  journey  from  Cape  Colony  to  Natal  was 


48  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

being  made — led  a  number  of  his  countrymen 
to  the  outskirts  of  Durban  and  formed  a  camp 
near  that  of  the  British  garrison.  He  sent  a 
message  to  Captain  Smith,  the  commander  of 
the  British  force  of  several  hundred  soldiers, 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  his  position. 
In  reply  Smith  led  one  hundred  and  fifty  of 
his  soldiers  in  a  moonlight  attack  on  the  Boer 
forces  and  was  completely  routed. 

The  Boers  then  besieged  Durban  for  twen- 
ty-six days  and  killed  many  of  the  English 
soldiers,  but  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  a 
schooner  load  of  soldiers  from  Cape  Colony 
augmented  the  forces  of  Captain  Smith,  and 
Pretorius  was  compelled  to  relinquish  his  ef- 
forts to  secure  control  of  the  territory  that 
his  countrymen  had  a  short  time  previously 
won  from  the  Zulus. 

Disheartened  by  their  successive  failures  to 
secure  a  desirable  part  of  the  country  wherein 
they  might  settle,  the  Boers  again  "  trekked  " 
northward  over  the  Dragon  Mountain.  There 
they  occupied  the  territory  south  of  the  Vaal 
River  which  had  a  short  time  previously  been 
deserted  by  Potgieter  and  his  party,  who  had 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     49 

journeyed  northward  with  the  intention  of 
joining  the  Portuguese  colony  at  Delagoa  Bay, 
on  the  Indian  Ocean. 

These  pilgrims  were  attacked  by  the  dead- 
ly fever  of  the  Portuguese  country,  and  after 
remaining  a  short  time  in  that  region  moved 
again  and  settled  in  different  localities  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  territory  now  included  in 
the  South  African  Republic.  Moselekatse  and 
his  Matabele  warriors  having  been  driven  out 
of  the  country  by  the  other  "  trekking  "  par- 
ties, the  extensive  region  north  of  the  Vaal 
River  was  then  in  undisputed  possession  of 
the  Boers. 

The  farmers  who  left  Cape  Colony  in  1835 
and  1836  in  different  parties  and  after  various 
vicissitudes  settled  across  the  Vaal  were  less 
than  sixteen  thousand  in  number,  and  were 
scattered  over  a  large  area  of  territory.  The 
nature  of  the  country  and  the  enmity  of  the 
leaders  of  the  parties  prevented  a  close  union 
among  them,  although  a  legislative  assembly, 
called  a  "  Volksraad,"  was  established  after 
much  disorder.  The  four  principal  "  trek- 
king "  parties  had  sought  four  of  the  most 


50  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

fertile  spots  in  the  newly  discovered  territo- 
ry, and  established  the  villages  of  Utrecht, 
Lydenburg,  Potchefstrom,  and  Zoutpans- 
berg. 

When  the  Volksraad  was  found  to  be  in- 
adequate to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  situa- 
tion these  villages  were  transformed  into  re- 
publics, each  with  a  government  independent 
of  the  others.  The  government  of  the  limited 
areas  of  land  occupied  by  the  four  republics 
was  fairly  successful,  but  the  surrounding  ter- 
ritory became  a  practical  no-man's-land,  where 
roamed  the  worst  criminals  of  the  country 
and  hundreds  of  detached  bands  of  marauding 
natives. 

The  Boers  imposed  a  labour  tax  upon  all 
the  natives  who  lived  in  the  territory  claimed 
by  the  four  republics,  and  for  a  period  of  ten 
years  the  taxes  were  paid  without  a  murmur. 
About  that  time,  however,  the  native  tribes 
had  recovered  from  the  great  losses  inflicted 
upon  them  by  the  emigrant  farmers,  and  they 
were  numerous  enough  to  make  an  armed  re- 
sistance to  the  demands  of  the  governments. 
White  women  and  children  were  massacred 


THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  BOER  RACE  5! 

and  property  was  destroyed  at  every  oppor- 
tunity. 

For  purposes  of  self-preservation  the  four 
republics  decided  to  unite  the  governments 
under  one  head,  and,  after  many  disputes  and 
disorders,  succeeded,  in  May,  1864,  in  form- 
ing a  single  republic,  with  Marthinus  Wessel 
Pretorius  as  President,  and  Paul  Kruger  as 
commandant-general  of  the  army. 

Ten  months  after  the  organization  of  the 
republic  the  Barampula  tribe  and  a  number 
of  lawless  Europeans  rebelled  against  the  au- 
thority of  the  Government,  and  Kruger  was 
obliged  to  attempt  their  subjugation.  Owing 
to  a  lack  of  ammunition  and  funds,  he  failed 
to  end  the  rebellion,  and  as  a  result  the 
Boers  were  compelled  to  withdraw  from  a 
large  part  of  the  territory  they  had  occupied. 
Up  to  this  time  the  Boers  had  not  been  in- 
terfered with  by  the  Government  of  Cape 
Colony,  but  another  tribal  rebellion  that  fol- 
lowed the  Barampula  disturbance  led  to  the 
establishment  of  a  court  of  arbitration,  in 
which  the  English  governor  of  Natal  figured 
as  umpire. 


52  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

The  result  of  the  arbitration  was  that  the 
rebellious  tribes  were  awarded  their  independ- 
ence, and  that  a  large  part  of  the  Boers'  ter- 
ritory was  taken  from  them.  The  emigrant 
farmers  who  had  settled  the  country  main- 
tained that  President  Pretorius  was  respon- 
sible for  the  loss  of  territory  and  compelled 
him  to  resign,  after  which  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Francois  Burgers,  a  shrewd  but  just  clergy- 
man-lawyer, was  elected  head  of  the  republic. 
Burgers  believed  that  the  republic  was  destined 
to  become  a  power  of  world-wide  magnitude, 
and  instantly  used  his  position  to  attain  that 
object.  He  went  to  Holland  to  secure  money, 
immigrants,  and  teachers  for  the  state  schools. 
He  secured  half  a  million  dollars  with  which 
to  build  a  railroad  from  his  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Delagoa  Bay,  and  sent  the  railway 
material  to  Lourenzo  Marques,  where  the  rust 
is  eating  it  to-day. 

When  Burgers  returned  to  Pretoria,  the 
capital  of  the  republic,  he  found  that  Chief 
Secoceni,  of  the  big  Bapedi  tribe,  had  defied 
the  power  of  his  Government,  and  was  mur- 
dering the  white  immigrants  in  cold  blood. 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE 


53 


Burgers  led  his  army  in  person  to  punish  Seco- 
ceni,  and  captured  one  of  the  native  strong- 
holds, but  was  so  badly  defeated  afterward 
that  his  soldiers  became  disheartened  and  de- 
cided to  return  to  their  homes. 

Heavy  war  taxes  were  levied,  and  when 
the  farmers  were  unable  to  pay  them  the  Gov- 
ernment was  impotent  to  conduct  its  ordinary 
affairs,  much  less  quell  the  rebellion  of  the 
natives.  The  Boers  were  divided  among  them- 
selves on  the  subject  of  further  procedure, 
and  a  civil  war  was  imminent.  The  British 
Government,  hearing  of  the  condition  of  the 
republic's  affairs,  sent  Sir  Theophilus  Shep- 
stone,  who  had  held  a  minor  office  at  Natal, 
to  Pretoria  with  almost  limitless  powers.  He 
called  upon  President  Burgers  and  stated  to 
him  that  his  mission  was  to  annex  the  country 
to  England,  and  gave  as  his  reasons  for  such 
a  proceeding  the  excuse  that  the  unsettled 
condition  of  the  native  races  demanded  it. 

Burgers  pointed  out  to  Shepstone  that  the 
native  races  had  not  harmed  the  English  colo- 
nies, and  that  a  new  constitution,  modelled 

after  that  of  America,  with  a  standing  police 
5 


54  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

force  of  two  hundred  mounted  men,  would 
put  an  end  to  all  the  republic's  troubles  with 
the  natives.  Shepstone,  however,  had  the 
moral  support  of  a  small  party  of  Boers  who 
were  dissatisfied  with  Burgers'  administration, 
and  on  April  12,  1877,  declared  the  republic  a 
possession  of  the  British  Empire.  Burgers 
retired  from  the  presidency  under  protest,  and 
Shepstone  established  a  form  of  government 
that  for  a  short  time  proved  acceptable  to 
many  of  the  Boers.  He  renamed  the  country 
Transvaal,  and  added  a  considerable  military 
force. 

But  the  Boers  were  not  accustomed  to 
foreign  interference  in  their  affairs,  and  twice 
sent  deputations  to  England  to  have  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country  returned  to  their  own 
hands.  Paul  Kruger  was  a  member  of  both 
deputations,  which  showed  ample  proof  that 
the  annexation  was  made  without  the  consent 
of  the  majority  of  the  Boers,  but  the  English 
Colonial  Office  refused  to  withdraw  the  Brit- 
ish flag  from  the  Transvaal. 

Sir  Owen  Lanyon,  a  man  of  no  tact  and 
an  inordinate  hater  of  the  Boers,  succeeded 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE    BOER   RACE      55 

Shepstone  as  administrator  of  the  Transvaal 
in  1879,  and  in  a  short  time  aroused  the  anger 
of  his  subjects  to  such  an  extent  that  an 
armed  resistance  to  the  British  Government 
was  decided  upon.  The  open  rebellion  was 
delayed  a  short  time  by  the  election  of  Mr. 
Gladstone  as  Prime  Minister  of  England,  and, 
as  he  had  publicly  declared  the  righteousness 
of  the  Boer  cause,  the  people  of  the  Transvaal 
looked  to  him  for  their  independence.  When 
Mr.  Gladstone  refused  to  interfere  in  the  Trans- 
vaal affairs  the  Boers  held  a  meeting  on  the 
present  site  of  Krugersdorp,  and  elected  Paul 
Kruger,  M.  W.  Pretorius,  and  Pieter  J.  Joubert 
a  triumvirate  to  conduct  the  government. 

At  this  meeting  each  Boer,  holding  a  stone 
in  his  hand,  took  an  oath  before  the  Almighty 
that  he  would  shed  the  last  drop  of  blood,  if  need 
were,  for  his  beloved  country.  The  stones  were 
cast  into  one  great  heap,  over  which  a  tall  monu- 
ment was  erected  several  years  afterward.  The 
monument  is  annually  made  the  rendezvous  of 
large  numbers  of  Boers,  who  there  renew  the 
solemn  pledges  to  protect  their  country  from 
aggressors. 


56  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

On  the  national  holiday,  Dingaan's  Day, 
December  16,  1880,  the  four-colour  flag  of 
the  republic  was  again  raised  at  the  temporary 
capital  at  Heidelberg.  The  triumvirate  sent  a 
manifesto  to  Sir  Owen  Lanyon  explaining  the 
causes  of  discontent,  and  ending  with  this  sig- 
nificant sentence,  which  has  ever  remained  a 
motto  of  the  individual  Boers: 

"  We  declare  before  God,  who  knows  the 
heart,  and  before  the  world,  that  the  people 
of  the  South  African  Republic  have  never 
been  subjects  of  Her  Majesty,  and  never  will  be." 

Lanyon  cursed  the  men  who  brought  the 
manifesto  to  him,  and  straightway  proceeded 
to  execute  the  authority  he  possessed.  His 
soldiers  fired  on  a  party  of  Boers  proceeding 
toward  Potchefstrom,  where  they  intended  to 
have  the  proclamation  of  independence  printed. 
The  Boers  defeated  the  soldiers  the  same  day 
the  Transvaal  flag  was  hoisted  at  Heidelberg, 
and  the  war,  which  had  been  impending  for 
several  months,  was  suddenly  precipitated  be- 
fore either  of  the  contestants  was  prepared. 

Lanyon  ordered  the  garrison  of  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four  men  at  Leydenburg,  under 


THE  EARLY   HISTORY  OF   THE   BOER   RACE     57 

Colonel  Anstruther,  to  proceed  to  Pretoria,  the 
English  capital.  At  Bronkhorst  Spruit,  Colo- 
nel Anstruther's  force  was  met  by  an  equal 
number  of  Boers,  who  immediately  attacked 
him.  The  engagement  was  brief  but  terrible, 
and  the  English  forces  were  compelled  to  sur- 
render. 

Lanyon  then  sent  to  Natal  for  assistance, 
and  Sir  George  Colley  and  a  body  of  more 
than  a  thousand  trained  soldiers  and  volun- 
teers set  out  to  assist  the  English  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, who  for  the  most  part  were  besieged 
in  the  different  towns.  Commandant-General 
Pieter  Joubert,  with  a  force  of  about  fifteen 
hundred  Boers,  went  forward  into  Natal  for 
the  purpose  of  meeting  Colley,  and  occupied 
a  narrow  passage  in  the  mountains  known  as 
Laing's  Nek.  Colley  attempted  to  force  the 
pass  on  January  28,  1881,  but  the  Boers  in- 
flicted such  a  heavy  loss  upon  his  forces  that 
he  was  compelled  to  retreat  to  Mount  Pros- 
pect and  await  the  arrival  of  fresh  troops 
from  England. 

Eleven  days  after  the  battle  of  Laing's 
Nek,  General  Colley  and  three  hundred  men, 


58  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

while  patrolling  the  road  near  the  Ingogo 
River,  were  attacked  by  a  body  of  Boers  un- 
der Commandant  Nicholaas  Smit.  The  Boers 
killed  and  wounded  two  thirds  of  the  English 
force  engaged,  and  compelled  the  others  to  re- 
treat in  disorder.  Up  to  this  time  the  Boers 
had  lost  seventeen  men  killed  and  twenty- 
eight  wounded,  while  the  British  loss  was  two 
hundred  and  fifty  killed  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty  wounded. 

During  the  night  of  February  26th  Gen- 
eral Colley  made  a  move  which  was  responsible 
for  one  of  the  greatest  displays  of  bravery  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  The  fight  at  Majuba 
Hill  was  won  by  the  Boers  against  greater 
odds  than  have  been  encountered  by  any  vol- 
unteer force  in  modern  times,  and  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  courage,  bravery,  and  absolute 
confidence  of  the  Boers  when  they  believe  they 
are  divinely  guided. 

Between  the  camps  of  General  Colley  and 
Commandant-General  Joubert  lay  Majuba  Hill, 
a  plateau  with  precipitous  sides  and  a  per- 
fectly level  top  about  twenty-five  hundred  feet 
above  the  camps.  In  point  of  resemblance 


CQ 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE    BOER   RACE      59 

the  hill  was  a  huge  inverted  tub  whose  sum- 
mit could  only  be  reached  by  a  narrow  path. 
General  Colley  and  six  hundred  men,  almost 
all  of  whom  were  trained  soldiers  fresh  from 
England,  ascended  the  narrow  path  by  moon- 
light, and  when  the  sun  rose  in  the  morning 
were  able  to  look  from  the  summit  of  the 
hill  and  see  the  Boer  camp  in  the  valley. 

The  plan  of  campaign  was  that  the  regi- 
ments that  had  been  left  behind  in  camp 
should  attempt  to  force  the  pass  through 
Laing's  Nek,  and  that  the  force  on  Majuba 
Hill  should  make  a  new  attack  on  the  Boers 
and  in  that  manner  crush  the  enemy  in  the 
pass.  So  positive  were  the  soldiers  of  the  suc- 
cess that  awaited  their  plans  that  they  looked 
down  from  their  lofty  position  into  the  ene- 
my's lines  and  speculated  on  the  number  of 
Boers  that  would  live  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
battle. 

It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  had  the  dis- 
tance between  the  two  armies  been  less,  the 
soldiers  on  the  hill  might  have  heard  the 
sound  of  many  voices  singing  hymns  of  praise 
and  the  prayers  that  were  being  offered  by 


60  OOM  PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

the  Boers  kneeling  in  the  valley.  The  Eng- 
lish held  their  enemies  in  the  palm  of  their 
hand,  it  seemed,  and  with  a  few  heavy  guns 
they  could  have  killed  them  by  the  score. 
The  sides  of  the  hill  were  so  steep  that  it  did 
not  enter  the  minds  of  the  English  that  the 
Boers  would  attempt  to  ascend  except  by  the 
same  path  which  they  had  traversed,  and  that 
was  impossible,  because  the  path  leading  from 
the  base  was  occupied  by  the  remaining  Eng- 
lish forces. 

The  idea  that  the  Boers  would  climb  from 
terrace  to  terrace,  from  one  bush  to  another, 
and  gain  the  summit  in  that  manner,  occurred 
to  no  one.  Before  there  was  any  stir  in  the 
Boers'  camp  the  English  soldiers  stood  on  the 
edge  of  the  summit  and,  shaking  their  fists  in 
exultation,  challenged  the  enemy:  "  Come  up 
here,  you  beggars!" 

The  Boers  soon  discovered  the  presence  of 
the  English  on  the  hill,  and  the  camp  pre- 
sented such  an  animated  scene  that  the  Eng- 
lish soldiers  were  led  to  imagine  that  con- 
sternation had  seized  the  Boers,  and  that  they 
were  preparing  for  a  retreat. 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     6l 

A  short  time  afterward,  when  the  Boers 
marched  toward  the  base  of  the  hill,  the  illu- 
sion was  dispelled;  and  still  later,  when  one 
hundred  and  fifty  volunteers  from  the  .Boer 
army  commenced  to  ascend  the  sides  of  the 
hill,  the  former  spirit  of  braggadocio  which 
characterized  the  British  soldier  resolved  itself 
into  a  feeling  of  nervousness.  During  the 
forenoon  the  British  soldiers  fired  at  such  of 
the  climbing  Boers  as  they  could  see,  but  the 
Boers  succeeded  in  dodging  from  one  stone 
to  another,  so  that  only  one  of  their  number 
was  killed  in  the  ascent. 

When  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  Boers 
reached  the  summit  of  the  hill,  after  an  ardu- 
ous climb  of  more  than  five  hours,  they  lay 
behind  rocks  at  the  edge  and  commenced  a 
hot  fire  at  the  English  soldiers,  who  had  re- 
treated into  the  centre  of  the  plateau,  thirty  , 
yards  distant.  The  English  soldiers  had  been 
ordered  to  fix  their  bayonets  and  were  pre- 
pared to  charge,  but  the  order  was  never 
given.  A  fresh  party  of  Boers  had  reached 
the  summit  and  threatened  to  flank  the  Eng- 
lish, who,  having  lost  many  of  their  offi- 


62  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

cers  and  scores  of  men,  became  wildly  panic- 
stricken. 

Several  minutes  after  General  Colley  was 
killed,  the  British  soldiers  who  had  escaped 
from  the  storm  of  bullets  broke  for  the  edge 
of  the  summit  and  allowed  themselves  to  drop 
and  roll  down  the  sides  of  the  hill.  When 
the  list  of  casualties  was  completed  it  was 
found  that  the  Boers  had  killed  ninety-two, 
wounded  one  hundred  and  thirty-four,  and 
taken  prisoners  fifty-nine  soldiers  of  the  six 
hundred  who  ascended  the  hill.  The  loss 
on  the  Boers'  side  was  one  killed  and  five 
wounded. 

A  short  time  after  the  fight  at  Majuba 
Hill  an  armistice  was  arranged  between  Sir 
Evelyn  Wood,  the  successor  of  General  Col- 
ley,  and  the  Triumvirate,  and  this  led  to 
the  partial  restoration  of  the  independence 
of  the  South  African  Republic.  By  the  terms 
of  peace  concluded  between  the  two  Gov- 
ernments, the  suzerainty  of  Great  Britain 
was  imposed  as  one  of  the  conditions, 
but  this  was  afterward  modified  so  that  the 
Transvaal  became  absolutely  independent  in 


THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   BOER   RACE     63 

everything  relating  to  its  internal  affairs. 
Great  Britain,  however,  retained  the 
right  to  veto  treaties  which  the  Transvaal 
Government  might  make  with  foreign  coun- 
tries. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   JOHANNESBURG    GOLD    FIELDS 

SOUTH  AFRICA  has  many  stories  concern- 
ing the  early  history  of  the  Witwatersrandt  gold 
district,  so  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to 
discriminate  between  the  fiction  and  the  truth. 
One  of  the  most  probable  stories  has  it  that 
the  former  owner  of  the  Randt  region  died  re- 
cently in  an  almshouse  in  Surrey,  England. 
He  had  a  marvellous  war  record,  having  fought 
with  the  British  army  in  the  Crimea,  at  Sebasto- 
pol,  in  the  Indian  Mutiny,  Zululand,  and  at  Ma- 
juba  Hill.  With  his  savings  of  four  thousand 
dollars  he  is  said  to  have  purchased  fifteen  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Transvaal.  He  was  obliged  to  forfeit  his  prop- 
erty to  the  Boer  Government  in  1882,  because  he 
had  taken  up  arms  against  the  Boers  when  they 
were  fighting  for  their  independence. 

The  actual  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Trans- 
64 


THE  JOHANNESBURG   GOLD    FIELDS  65 

vaal  territory  is  credited  to  a  German  named 
Mauch,  who  travelled  through  that  part  of  the 
country  early  in  the  century.  He  returned  to 
Berlin  with  wonderful  reports  of  the  gold  he 
had  found,  and  attempted  to  enlist  capital  to 
work  the  mines.  Whether  his  reports  were  not 
credited,  or  whether  the  Germans  feared  the 
natives,  is  not  recorded,  but  Mauch  is  not  heard 
of  again  in  connection  with  the  later  history 
of  the  country.  In  1854  a  Dutchman  named 
Jan  Marais,  who  had  a  short  time  before  re- 
turned from  the  Australian  gold  fields,  pros- 
pected in  the  Transvaal,  and  found  many  evi- 
dences of  gold.  The  Boers,  fearing  that  their 
land  would  be  overrun  with  gold-seekers,  paid 
five  hundred  pounds  to  Marais,  and  sent  him 
home  after  extracting  a  promise  that  he  would 
not  reveal  his  secret  to  any  one. 

It  was  not  until  1884  that  England  heard 
of  the  presence  of  gold  in  South  Africa.  A 
man  named  Fred  Stuben,  who  had  spent  sev- 
eral years  in  the  country,  spread  such  marvel- 
lous reports  of  the  underground  wealth  of  the 
Transvaal  that  only  a  short  time  elapsed  be- 
fore hundreds  of  prospectors  and  miners  left 


66  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

England  for  South  Africa.  When  the  first 
prospectors  discovered  auriferous  veins  of  won- 
derful quality  on  a  farm  called  Sterkfontein, 
the  gold  boom  had  its  birth.  It  required  the 
lapse  of  only  a  short  time  for  the  news  to  reach 
Europe,  America,  and  Australia,  and  immedi- 
ately thereafter  that  vast  and  widely  scattered 
army  of  men  and  women  which  constantly 
awaits  the  announcement  of  new  discoveries  of 
gold  was  set  in  motion  toward  the  Randt. 

The  Indian,  Russian,  American,  and  Aus- 
tralian gold  fields  were  deserted,  and  the  steam- 
ships and  sailing  vessels  to  South  Africa  were 
overladen  with  men  and  women  of  all  degrees 
and  nationalities.  The  journey  to  the  Randt  was 
expensive,  dangerous,  and  comfortless,  but  be- 
fore a  year  had  passed  almost  twenty  thousand 
persons  had  crossed  the  deserts  and  the  plains 
and  had  settled  on  claims  purchased  from  the 
Boers.  In  December,  1885,  the  first  stamp 
mill  was  erected  for  the  purpose  of  crushing 
the  gneiss  rock  in  which  the  gold  lay  hidden. 
This  enterprise  marks  the  real  beginning  of 
the  gold  fields  of  the  Randt,  which  now  yield 
one  third  of  the  world's  total  product  of  the 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  67 

precious  metal.'  The  advent  of  thousands  of 
foreigners  was  a  boon  to  the  Boers,  who  owned 
the  large  farms  on  which  the  auriferous  veins 
were  located.  Options  on  farms  that  were  of 
little  value  a  short  time  before  were  sold  at  in- 
credible figures,  and  the  prices  paid  for  small 
claims  would  have  purchased  farms  of  thou- 
sands of  acres  two  years  before. 

In  July,  1886,  the  Government  opened  nine 
farms  to  the  miners,  and  all  have  since  become 
the  best  properties  on  the  Randt.  The  names 
by  which  the  farms  were  known  were  retained 
by  the  mines  which  were  located  upon  them 
afterward,  and,  as  they  give  an  idea  of  the  no- 
menclature of  the  country,  are  worth  repeti- 
tion :  Langlaagte,  Dreifontein,  Rantjeslaagte, 
Doornfontein,  Vogelstruitsfontein,  Paardeplaats, 
Turffontein,  Elandsfontein,  and  Roodepoort. 

The  railroad  from  Cape  Town  extended  only 
as  far  north  as  the  diamond  mines  at  Kimber- 
ley,  and  the  remainder  of  the  distance,  about 
five  hundred  miles,  had  to  be  traversed  with 
ox-teams  or  on  foot;  but  the  gold-seekers 
yielded  to  no  impediments,  and  marched  in 
bodies  of  hundreds  to  the  new  fields.  The  ma- 


68  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

chinery  necessary  to  operate  the  mines  and  ex- 
tract the  gold  from  the  rocks,  as  well  as  every 
ounce  of  food  and  every  inch  of  lumber,  was 
dragged  overland  by  ox-teams,  and  the  vast 
plains  that  had  seen  naught  but  the  herds  of 
Boer  farmers  and  the  wandering  tribes  of  na- 
tives were  quickly  transformed  into  scenes  of 
unparalleled  activity. 

On  the  Randt  the  California  scenes  of  '49 
were  being  re-enacted.  Tents  and  houses  of 
sheet  iron  were  erected  with  picturesque  lack 
of  beauty  and  uniformity,  and  during  the  latter 
part  of  1886  the  community  had  reached  such 
proportions  that  the  Government  marked  off 
a  township  and  called  it  Johannesburg.  The 
Government,  which  owned  the  greater  part  of 
the  land,  held  three  sales  of  building  lots,  or 
"  stands,"  as  they  are  called  in  the  Transvaal, 
and  realized  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars  from  the  sales.  The  prices  of  stands 
measuring  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet  ranged 
from  one  dollar  to  one  thousand  dollars.  Mil- 
lions were  secured  in  England  and  Europe  for 
the  development  of  the  mines,  and  the  individ- 
ual miner  sold  his  claims  to  companies  with  un- 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  69 

limited  capital.  The  incredibly  large  dividends 
that  were  realized  by  some  of  the  investors  led 
to  too  heavy  investments  in  the  Stock  Exchange 
in  1889,  and  a  panic  resulted.  Investors  lost 
thousands  of  pounds,  and  for  several  months 
the  future  of  the  gold  fields  appeared  to  be 
most  gloomy.  The  opening  of  the  railway  to 
Johannesburg  and  the  re-establishment  of  stock 
values  caused  a  renewal  of  confidence,  and  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  Randt  was  im- 
bued with  renewed  vigour. 

Owing  to  the  Boers'  lack  of  training  and 
consequent  inability  to  share  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  gold  fields,  the  new  industry  re- 
mained almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  new- 
comers, the  Uitlanders,  and  two  totally  differ- 
ent communities  were  created  in  the  republic. 
The  Uitlanders,  who,  in  1890,  numbered  about 
one  hundred  thousand,  lived  almost  exclusive- 
ly in  Johannesburg  and  the  suburbs  along  the 
Randt.  The  Boers,  having  disposed  of  their 
farms  and  lands  on  the  Randt,  were  obliged  to 
occupy  the  other  parts  of  the  republic,  where 
they  could  follow  their  pastoral  and  agricultural 
pursuits. 


70  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

The  natural  contempt  which  the  English- 
men, who  composed  the  majority  of  the  Uit- 
lander  population,  always  have  for  persons  and 
races  not  their  intellectual  or  social  equals, 
soon  created  a  gulf  between  the  Boers  and  the 
newcomers.  This  line  of  cleavage  was  ex- 
tended when  the  newcomers  attempted  to  ob- 
tain a  foothold  in  the  politics  of  the  country. 
The  Boers,  who  had  been  suddenly  outnum- 
bered three  to  one,  naturally  resented  the  in- 
terference, especially  as  it  came  from  persons 
who  had  no  desire  to  become  permanent  resi- 
dents of  the  country,  and  who  wanted  a  voice 
in  the  conduct  of  the  national  affairs  only  as  a 
means  to  attain  their  own  ends,  without  car- 
ing about  the  welfare  of  the  entire  republic. 

The  Uitlanders  had  many  good  and  hon- 
est men  among  them,  but  the  majority  consisted 
of  speculators,  cutthroats,  "  I.  D.  B.,"  *  and 
such  others  as  were  exiled  from  their  native 

*  Illicit  Diamond  Buyers.  Every  diamond  mined  in  the 
country  must  be  registered  with  the  Government,  and  may 
not  be  sold  except  by  a  licensed  broker.  Transgression  of 
this  law  is  called  illicit  diamond  buyirtjf  or  selling,  and  is 
punishable  with  long  imprisonment  Ofl  the  Breakwater  at 
Cape  Town. 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS          71 

lands  by  reason  of  crimes  they  had  committed. 
Their  cry  was  "Gold!"  and  honour  and  jus- 
tice were  cast  to  the  winds.  The  Boer  Govern- 
ment was  blamed  for  famine,  drought,  and  the 
locusts,  and  everything  was  done  to  embarrass 
those  who  were  trying  to  administer  justice  to 
Boer  and  Uitlander  alike. 

One  example  is  sufficient  to  show  the  con- 
duct of  the  Uitlanders  toward  the  Boers,  but 
thousands  could  be  given.  President  Kruger 
journeyed  to  Johannesburg  in  order  to  learn 
from  the  newcomers  what  his  government 
might  do  to  improve  the  industry.  A  crowd 
met  Mr.  Kruger,  and,  after  rude  remarks  on 
his  personal  appearance,  sang  "  God  save  the 
Queen."  Later  the  Transvaal  flag  was  torn 
down  from  a  staff  in  front  of  the  house  in  which 
the  President  was  conferring  with  leading  resi- 
dents of  the  city.  The  Transvaal  Government, 
on  the  other  hand,  sought  by  all  means  in  its 
power  to  secure  the  good-will  of  the  newcomers, 
and  frequent  conferences  between  leading  men 
of  the  Randt  and  the  officials  of  the  Govern- 
ment were  held  with  that  object  in  view.  The 
Second  Volksraad  was  created,  so  that  the  Uit- 


72  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

landers  might  have  a  voice  in  the  Government, 
and  many  reforms,  which  at  the  time  were 
warmly  approved  by  the  Johannesburg  Cham- 
ber of  Mines,  representing  the  mining  popula- 
tion, were  instituted,  and  would  have  been 
completed,  satisfactory  to  all,  had  the  Uitland- 
ers  waited,  instead  of  plotting  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  Government. 

When  the  disturbing  element  of  the  Uit- 
lander  population  found  that  their  efforts  to 
govern  the  Randt  according  to  their  own  de- 
sires were  fruitless,  Cecil  J.  Rhodes,  then  Pre- 
mier of  Cape  Colony  and  at  the  height  of  his 
influence,  began  his  campaign  for  the  control 
of  the  Boer  territory.  He  brought  to  bear  all 
the  power  at  his  command  to  harass  the  Pre- 
torian  Government,  and  tried  in  a  score  of  ways 
to  induce  the  colonial  secretary  to  interfere 
in  behalf  of  the  Uitlanders,  even  going  to  the 
extent  of  offering  to  Secretary  for  the  Colonies 
Chamberlain  the  payment  of  an  equal  share  in 
the  cost  of  a  war  with  the  Transvaal. 

Whether  Mr.  Rhodes's  real  object  in  at- 
tempting to  secure  possession  of  the  Trans- 
vaal was  that  he  and  other  capitalists  might 


THE   JOHANNESBURG  GOLD   FIELDS  73 

consolidate  the  mines  and  limit  the  output,  as 
he  had  done  at  Kimberley,  or  whether  his 
earth-hunger  impelled  him,  is  known  only  to 
himself.  Whatever  the  reason,  he  planned  like 
a  professional  South  American  revolutionist, 
and  by  his  boldness  caused  the  amateur  revo- 
lutionists of  the  Randt  to  gasp. 

The  opening  prelude  of  the  Jameson  raid 
was  a  mass  meeting  held  in  November,  1895, 
by  the  Johannesburg  Chamber  of  Mines,  which 
had  always  shown  marked  friendliness  to  the 
Pretorian  Government.  The  president  of  the 
organization,  Lionel  Phillips,  created  a  sensa- 
tion by  reading  a  mass  of  alleged  grievances 
against  the  Government,  as  formulated  by  an 
organization  called  the  "  Transvaal  National 
Union,"  and  threatening  that,  unless  the  Gov- 
ernment gave  immediate  remedy,  revolutionary 
methods  would  be  adopted  in  order  to  obtain 
redress.  The  plot  had  begun  its  evolution, 
and  its  success  was  to  be  attained  in  a  certain 
well-defined  way. 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Phillips  was  to  serve  as 
Johannesburg's  ultimatum  to  the  Boers.  If 
the  Government  gave  no  heed,  the  revolution^ 


74  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ary  party  was  to  seize  Johannesburg  by  force 
of  arms,  declare  a  provisional  government  of 
the  country,  and  march  against  Pretoria. 
Once  in  possession  of  the  seat  of  government, 
it  was  planned  to  lay  their  grievances  before 
the  world,  and  ask  that  the  future  government 
of  the  country  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
majority  of  the  white  population.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  if  the  plans  were  thoroughly  per- 
fected the  plot  could  be  carried  to  a  success- 
ful conclusion  without  the  firing  of  a  single 
shot.  In  order  to  be  amply  prepared  in  case 
the  Boers  should  make  an  unexpected  resist- 
ance to  the  revolutionists,  it  had  been  arranged 
with  Dr.  Leander  Starr  Jameson,  who  was  then 
in  charge  of  the  troops  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  Brit- 
ish South  Africa  Company,  to  ride  across  the 
border  to  Johannesburg,  a  journey  of  several 
days,  and  assist  in  the  engagement.  The  revo- 
lution was  perfectly  planned,  and  it  would  have 
required  only  half  an  effort  on  the  part  of  a 
Haytien  revolutionist  to  carry  it  out  success- 
fully; but  Mr.  Rhodes,  the  brains  of  the  move- 
ment, was  in  Cape  Town,  and  unable  to  do  any- 
thing more  practical  than  imagine  that  his 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS          75 

plans  were  being  followed.  By  common  agree- 
ment among  the  revolutionists,  Dr.  Jameson 
and  Mr.  Rhodes,  it  was  decided  to  have  the 
uprising  in  Johannesburg  about  the  28th  of 
December,  and  everything  had  been  planned 
accordingly.  From  Kimberley  Mr.  Rhodes's 
De  Beers  Company  had  sent  two  thousand 
rifles — the  Boers  say  twenty  thousand — one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  cases  of  ammunition, 
and  three  Maxims  in  oil  casks  across  the  bor- 
der into  Johannesburg,  where  the  Uitlanders 
were  secretly  organizing  and  drilling  military 
companies.  In  the  British  territory  Dr.  Jame- 
son and  his  six  hundred  troopers  were  polish- 
ing their  rifles  and  Maxims,  and  waiting  for 
the  day  when  they  should  march  toward  Johan- 
nesburg. 

Under  pretence  that  they  were  to  be  used 
in  connection  with  a  new  stage  line  ta  be 
opened,  "  canteens,"  or  feeding  places,  had 
been  established  several  miles  apart  on  the  road 
over  which  the  troopers  were  supposed  to 
enter  Johannesburg,  and  all  had  been  bounti- 
fully stocked  with  provisions  for  soldier  and 
horse.  The  Government  at  Pretoria  had  been 


76  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

led  to  believe  that  Johannesburg  was  armed  to 
the  teeth,  and  that  nothing  could  prevent  the 
dissolution  of  the  republic. 

When  the  28th  day  of  December  arrived, 
the  well-advertised  revolution  had  not  mate- 
rialized, and  nothing  more  martial  was  to  be 
seen  than  several  regiments  of  civilians  drill- 
ing in  the  streets.  Thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  fearing  that  the  Boers  might  at- 
tack the  city  at  any  moment,  besieged  the  rail- 
way station,  and  fought  like  so  many  uncivi- 
lized beings  to  board  the  trains  leaving  for 
Natal  and  Cape  Colony.  Among  those  who 
displayed  the  greatest  eagerness  to  escape  from 
the  city  were  many  wealthy  Englishmen,  who 
several  days  before  had  been  the  most  rabid 
sympathizers  of  the  revolutionary  movement. 
The  city  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Uitlanders, 
because  the  handful  of  Transvaal  police,  com- 
monly called  "  Zarps,"  had  been  withdrawn  by 
the  Boer  authorities,  who  depended  on  the 
power  of  the  guns  in  the  fort  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  town  to  quell  any  disturbance  that 
might  be  made.  There  was  no  actual  revolu- 
tion, because  the  Uitlanders  were  divided  among 


THE  JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  77 

themselves  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  The 
Englishmen,  as  soon  as  the  success  of  the 
movement  seemed  so  close  at  hand,  aroused 
the  enmity  of  the  other  Uitlanders  by  asking 
them  to  consent  to  the  raising  of  the^British 
flag  as  soon  as  the  Boer  Republic  had  been  ob- 
literated. This  campaign  placed  the  revolution 
in  an  entirely  different  light  to  those  of  the 
Uitlanders  who  had  no  particular  liking  for 
England,  and  the  result  was  that  the  revolution- 
ary party  was  divided  into  two  camps.  On  the 
side  of  the  Englishmen  were  the  Uitlanders 
from  British  colonies — Scotchmen,  Irishmen, 
Welshmen,  Canadians,  Australians,  and  all  the 
Americans  who  were  employed  by  British  mines. 
In  the  other  camp  were  the  Germans,  French- 
men, Scandinavians,  Swedes,  Norwegians, 
Danes,  and  Finlanders. 

The  majority  of  the  Americans  felt  that  a 
revolution  was  unjustifiable,  although  some  of 
the  grievances  complained  of  were  undoubt- 
edly just,  and  ranged  themselves  on  the  anti- 
English  side.  Another  reason  for  the  Ameri- 
cans' attitude  at  that  time  was  President  Cleve- 
land's warlike  message  to  England  on  the  Vene- 


78  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

zuelan  boundary  dispute.  The  real  American 
patriot  is  found  ten  thousand  miles  from  home, 
and  those  in  America  who  were  excited  when 
they  heard  of  England's  attempt  to  grasp  a 
swamp  in  far-away  Venezuela  can  readily  im- 
agine the  spirit  of  the  Americans  in  the  Trans- 
vaal who  saw  England  attempting  to  steal  a 
valuable  country  without  the  shadow  of  an 
excuse. 

The  following  day,  the  2Qth  of  December, 
Dr.  Jameson  and  his  troopers,  believing  that 
the  revolutionists  at  Johannesburg  had  seized 
the  city,  as  it  had  been  planned  they  should  do, 
crossed  the  border  into  the  Transvaal.  Mes- 
sages had  been  sent  to  Mr.  Rhodes  and  others 
of  the  leaders,  stating  the  time  of  the  departure 
from  British  territory  and  the  time  set  for  their 
arrival  in  Johannesburg.  Several  troopers  were 
sent  ahead  to  cut  the  telegraph  wires,  so  that 
no  news  of  the  expedition  should  reach  the 
outside  world;  but  the  anticipated  joy  of  reach- 
ing Johannesburg  and  assisting  in  raising  the 
"  Union  Jack  "  intoxicated  the  men,  and  they 
succeeded  in  cutting  only  the  wire  which  led 
to  Cape  Town.  The  wire  to  Pretoria  remained 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  79 

untouched,  and  before  the  troopers  had  pro- 
ceeded fifty  miles  into  Transvaal  territory  the 
Pretorian  Government  was  aware  of  their  ap- 
proach, and  made  preparations  to  meet  them. 

The  Uitlanders  in  Johannesburg  had  been 
led  to  believe  by  their  dilettante  leaders  that  Dr. 
Jameson's  incursion  had  been  postponed,  and 
they  were  ignorant  of  his  whereabouts  until  the 
following  day,  when  a  member  of  the  Pretorian 
Government  kind-heartedly  gave  the  informa- 
tion to  several  of  the  Uitlander  leaders,  who 
had  journeyed  .to  Pretoria  with  rifles  in  one 
hand  and  demands  in  the  other.  When  the 
news  of  the  invasion  reached  Johannesburg 
the  excitement  became  intensified.  A  reform 
committee  of  about  one  hundred  persons  was 
quickly  formed,  and  into  their  hands  was  given 
the  conduct  of  the  revolution.  Speeches  were 
made  from  the  balcony  of  the  Stock  Exchange, 
until  some  practical  speaker  suggested  that  it 
would  be  proper  to  unpack  the  rifles  and  am- 
munition from  the  oil  casks  if  the  revolution 
was  to  be  undertaken. 

The  suggestion  was  acted  upon,  and  late 
that  night  five  hundred  of  the  rifles  to  be  used 


8o  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

in  the  overthrow  of  a  republic  were  being  car- 
ried to  and  fro  in  the  streets  of  Johannesburg 
on  the  shoulders  of  men  who  were  willing  to 
do  the  work  for  ten  dollars  a  night.  The  fol- 
lowing day,  while  Dr.  Jameson  and  his  troop- 
ers were  marching  over  the  veldt  toward  Jo- 
hannesburg, the  leaders  of  the  movement  made 
more  speeches  to  the  crowd  at  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, and  waited  for  news  from  Pretoria  in- 
stead of  making  news  for  Pretoria. 

The  first  part  of  the  plot — the  capture  of 
Johannesburg — had  been  successful  without  the 
discharge  of  a  rifle,  because  the  Boers  had  with- 
drawn their  police,  and  there  remained  no  one 
at  which  the  opera-bouffe  revolutionists  might 
fire. 

The  next  step  was  the  capture  of  Pretoria, 
and  for  this  purpose  a  small  expedition  started 
for  the  capital  city;  but  returned  hastily  and 
without  their  rifles  and  ammunition  when  they 
saw  a  thousand  Boers,  each  with  the  usual  ac- 
companiment of  a  rifle,  attending  the  annual 
"  Nachtmaal,"  or  communion,  in  the  city. 

The  last  day  of  the  year  saw  the  Uitland- 
ers  undecided  as  to  what  action  to  take.  On 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  8l 

the  one  hand  was  Dr.  Jameson  coming  to  their 
relief,  while  on  the  other  was  the  Pretorian 
Government  preparing  to  quell  an  insurrection 
which  had  not  even  started.  The  Reform  Com- 
mittee, whose  members  a  few  weeks  before  had 
made  arrangements  for  Dr.  Jameson's  coming, 
denied  that  they  had  any  connection  with  the 
invasion.  Dr.  Jameson  having  been  repudi- 
ated, the  committee  debated  for  many  hours 
on  the  subject  of  which  flag  should  be  hoisted 
in  the  event  that  the  revolution  was  successful, 
and  finally  sent  John  Hays  Hammond,  an 
American  member  of  the  committee,  to  secure 
the  four-colour  of  the  Transvaal. 

Then  and  there  the  most  ludicrous  incident 
of  the  Uitlander  rising  took  place.  With  up- 
lifted hands  the  members  of  the  committee, 
who  were  the  leaders  of  the  revolution,  swore 
allegiance  to  the  red,  white,  green,  and  blue 
flag  of  the  Transvaal,  which  for  days  and 
months  before  they  had  reviled  and  insulted. 
After  having  vowed  loyalty  to  the  Transvaal 
flag,  the  committee  continued  the  preparations 
for  the  defence  of  the  city  and  the  drilling  of 
the  volunteers  who  were  enrolled  at  a  score  of 


82  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

different  shops  in  the  city.  A  rumour  that 
Dr.  Jameson  had  been  attacked  by  the  Boer 
forces,  but  had  repulsed  them,  gave  additional 
zest  to  the  military  preparations,  and  the  ad- 
visability of  sending  some  of  the  mounted 
troops  to  meet  him  was  discussed  but  not 
acted  upon.  The  reported  victory  of  Dr. 
Jameson's  troopers,  coupled  with  a  request 
from  the  Pretorian  Government  for  a  confer- 
ence to  discuss  methods  of  ending  the  trou- 
bles, caused  the  Reform  Committee  to  repent 
their  hasty  action  in  swearing  allegiance  to 
the  Transvaal  flag,  and  they  \vere  on  the 
point  of  breaking  their  obligation,  and  send- 
ing aid  to  the  invading  troopers,  when,  dur- 
ing the  last  hour  of  the  year,  they  learned 
that  the  secretary  for  the  colonies,  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain, had  repudiated  and  recalled  Dr.  Jame- 
son. 

The  first  day  of  the  new  year  the  spirit  of 
the  Uitlanders  was  dampened  by  the  informa- 
tion that  the  Boers  were  massing  troops  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town;  and,  fearing  that  the 
town  might  be  attacked  at  any  moment,  the 
Reform  Committee,  which  had  been  spending 


THE   JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  83 

much  energy  in  informing  the  Pretorian  Gov- 
ernment of  the  city's  great  military  preparation, 
telegraphed  pathetic  appeals  for  assistance  to 
the  British  High  Commissioner  at  Cape  Town. 
Couriers  arrived  from  the  outskirts  of  the  city 
and  reported  that  Dr.  Jameson  and  his  troop- 
ers were  within  fifteen  miles  of  Johannesburg, 
and  plans  were  made  to  receive  him.  One 
small  regiment  left  the  city  to  meet  the  troop- 
ers and  escort  them  into  the  city,  while  the 
remainder  of  the  revolutionary  forces  held  ju- 
bilation festivities  in  honour  of  Dr.  Jameson's 
anticipated  arrival. 

While  Johannesburg,  which  had  promised 
to  do  the  righting,  was  in  the  midst  of  its  festi- 
val joys,  Dr.  Jameson  and  those  of  his  six  hun- 
dred troopers  who  were  not  dead  on  the  fields 
of  battle  were  waving  a  Hottentot  woman's 
white  apron  in  token  of  their  surrender  to  the 
Boer  forces  at  Doornkop,  eighteen  miles  away. 
The  Johannesburg  revolt,  initiated  by  magnifi- 
cent promises,  ended  with  an  inglorious  display 
of  that  quality  which  the  British  have  been  wont 
to  attribute  to  Boers—"  funk."  The  British 
have  their  Balaclava  and  Sebastopol,  but  they 


84  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

also  have  their  Majuba  Hill  and  the  Johannes- 
burg revolt. 

The  final  scenes  of  the  Jameson  raid,  which 
might  more  fittingly  be  called  "  the  Johannes- 
burg funk,"  were  enacted  in  Pretoria,  where 
Dr.  Jameson  and  the  other  prisoners  were  taken, 
and  in  London,  where  the  officers  of  the  expe- 
dition were  tried  and  virtually  acquitted.  The 
revolutionists  in  Johannesburg  yielded  all  their 
arms  and  ammunition  to  the  Boer  Govern- 
ment, which  in  turn  made  every  possible  effort 
to  effect  an  amicable  settlement  of  the  griev- 
ances of  the  Uitlanders.  But  the  raid  left  a 
deeper  impress  upon  Johannesburg  and  its  in- 
terests than  any  of  its  organizers  or  supporters 
had  ever  dreamed  of.  Almost  one  fifth  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city  left  the  country  for  more 
peaceable  localities  in  the  three  months  follow- 
ing the  disturbance,  and  business  became  stag- 
nant. Capitalists  declined  to  invest  more  money 
in  the  gold  mines  while  the  unsettled  condi- 
tion of  the  political  affairs  continued,  and 
scores  of  mines  were  compelled  to  abandon 
operations.  Stocks  fell  in  value,  and  thousands 
of  pounds  were  lost  by  innocent  shareholders 


THE  JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS  85 

in  Europe,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  political 
affairs  of  the  country.  For  two  years  the  de- 
pression continued,  and  so  acute  were  its  re- 
sults that  hundreds  of  respectable  miners  and 
business  men,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
live  in  luxury,  became  bankrupt,  and  were 
obliged  to  beg  for  their  food.  Those  who 
were  able  to  do  so  sold  their  interests  in  the 
city  and  left  the  country,  while  hundreds  of 
others  would  have  been  happy  to  leave  had 
they  been  able  to  secure  passage  to  their  native 
countries. 

During  the  last  year  the  effects  of  the  raid 
have  been  disappearing  and  the  commercial 
interests  of  the  Randt  have  been  improving, 
but  the  political  atmosphere  has  been  kept 
vibrating  at  a  continuous  loss  to  the  indus- 
tries that  are  represented  in  the  country.  All 
South  Africa  was  similarly  affected  by  the 
depression,  which  naturally  cut  off  the  rev- 
enue from  the  gold  fields  and  that  derived 
from  passengers  and  freight  coming  into  the 
country  from  foreign  shores.  To  add  to 
the  general  dismay,  the  entire  country  was 
scourged  with  the  rinderpest,  a  disease  which 


86  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

killed  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  cattle; 
clouds  of  locusts,  that  destroyed  all  vegeta- 
tion and  made  life  miserable;  and  a  long 
drought. 

After  the  scourges  had  passed,  and  the  po- 
litical atmosphere  had  become  somewhat  clari- 
fied, the  industries  of  Johannesburg  and  the 
Randt  returned  to  their  normal  condition,  and 
the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of 
the  territory  was  resumed.  Many  of  those  per- 
sons who  deserted  the  city  during  its  period 
of  depression  returned  with  renewed  ener- 
gy, and  those  who  had  successfully  combated 
the  storm  joined  with  the  newcomers  in  wel- 
coming the  return  of  prosperous  times. 
Confidence  was  restored  among  the  Euro- 
pean capitalists,  and  money  was  again  freely 
invested  and  trade  relations  firmly  re-estab- 
lished. 

Johannesburg  after  the  Jameson  raid  was 
a  distressing  scene;  the  Johannesburg  of  to- 
day is  a  wondrous  testimonial  to  the  energy 
and  progress  of  mankind. 

If  there  were  no  other  remarkable  features 
to  mark  the  last  decade  of  the  twentieth  cen- 


THE  JOHANNESBURG   GOLD   FIELDS          8/ 

tury,  the  marvellous  city  which  has  been  built 
near  the  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent  would 
alone  be  a  fitting  monument  to  the  enterprise 
and  achievements  of  the  white  race  during  that 
period  of  time. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE    BOER    OF    TO-DAY 

THE  wholesale  slander  and  misrepresenta- 
tion with  which  the  Boers  of  South  Africa 
have  been  pursued  can  not  be  outlived  by  them 
in  a  hundred  years.  It  originated  when  the 
British  forces  took  possession  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  it  has  continued  with  un- 
abated vigour  ever  since.  Recently  the  chief 
writers  of  fiction  have  been  prominent  Eng- 
lishmen, who,  on  hunting  expeditions  or  rapid 
tours  through  the  country,  saw  the  object  of 
their  venom  from  car  windows  or  in  the  less 
favourable  environments  of  a  trackless  veldt. 

In  earlier  days  the  outside  world  gleaned 
its  knowledge  of  the  Boers  from  certain  British 
statesmen,  who,  by  grace  of  Downing  Street, 
controlled  the  country's  colonial  policy,  and 
consequently  felt  obliged  to  conjure  up  weird 
descriptions  of  their  far-distant  subjects  in  order 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  89 

to  make  the  application  of  certain  harsh  poli- 
cies appear  more  applicable  and  necessary. 
Missionaries  to  South  Africa,  traders,  and,  not 
least  of  all,  speculators,  all  found  it  convenient 
to  traduce  the  Boers  to  the  people  in  England, 
and  the  object  in  almost  every  case  was  the 
attainment  of  some  personal  end.  Had  there 
been  any  variety  in  the  complaints,  there  might 
have  been  reason  to  suppose  they  were  justi- 
fiable, but  the  similarity  of  the  reports  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  British  in  South  Africa 
were  conducting  the  campaign  of  misrepresen- 
tation for  the  single  purpose  of  arousing  the 
enmity  of  the  home  people  against  the  Boers. 
The  unbiased  reports  were  generally  of  such 
a  nature  that  they  were  drowned  by  the  roar 
of  the  malicious  ones,  and,  instead  of  creating 
a  better  popular  opinion  of  the  race,  only  as- 
sisted in  stirring  the  opposition  to  greater 
flights  of  fancy. 

American  interests  in  South  Africa  having 
been  so  infinitesimal  until  the  last  decade,  our 
own  knowledge  of  the  country  and  its  people 
naturally  was  of  the  same  proportions.  When 
Americans  learned  anything  concerning  South 


<po  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Africa  or  the  Boers  it  came  by  way  of  Lon- 
don, which  had  vaster  interests  in  the  country, 
and  should  have  been  able  to  give  exact  in- 
formation. But,  like  other  colonial  informa- 
tion, it  was  discoloured  with  London  additions, 
and  the  result  was  that  American  views  of  the 
Boers  tallied  with  those  of  the  Englishman. 

Among  the  more  prominent  Englishmen 
who  have  recently  studied  the  Boers  from  a 
car  window,  and  have  given  the  world  the  bene- 
fit of  their  opinions,  is  a  man  who  has  declared 
that  the  Boer  blocked  the  way  in  South  Africa, 
and  must  go.  Among  other  declarations  with 
which  this  usually  well-informed  writer  has 
taken  up  the  cudgel  in  behalf  of  his  friend  Mr. 
Rhodes,  he  has  called  the  Boers  "  utterly  de- 
testable," "  guilty  of  indecencies  and  family 
immorality,"  and  even  so  "  benighted  and  un- 
civilized "  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  writ- 
ing about  them.  All  this  he  is  reported  to  have 
said  about  a  race  that  has  been  lauded  beyond 
measure  by  the  editors  of  every  country  in 
the  world  except  those  under  the  English  flag. 
The  real  cause  of  it  all  is  found  in  the  Boers' 
disposition  to  carry  their  own  burdens,  and 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  9! 

their  disinclination  to  allow  England  to  be 
their  keeper.  Their  opinions  of  justice  and 
right  were  formed  years  ago  in  Cape  Colony, 
and  so  long  as  their  fighting  ability  has 
not  been  proved  in  a  negative  manner,  so 
long  will  the  Boers  be  reviled  by  the  covet- 
ous Englishmen  of  South  Africa  and  their 
friends. 

The  Boer  of  to-day  is  a  man  who  loves 
solitude  above  all  things.  He  and  his  ances- 
tors have  enjoyed  that  chief  product  of  South 
Africa  for  so  many  generations  that  it  is  his 
greatest  delight  to  be  alone.  The  nomadic 
spirit  of  the  early  settler  courses  in  his  veins, 
and  will  not  be  eradicated  though  cities  be 
built  up  all  around  him  and  railroads  hem  him 
in  on  all  sides. 

He  loves  to  be  out  on  the  veldt,  where  noth- 
ing but  the  tall  grass  obstructs  his  view  of  the 
horizon,  and  his  happiness  is  complete  when, 
gun  in  hand,  he  can  stalk  the  buck  or  raise  the 
covey  on  soil  never  upturned  by  the  share  of 
a  plough.  The  real  Boer  is  a  real  son  of  the 
soil.  It  is  his  natural  environment,  and  he 
chafes  when  he  is  compelled  to  go  where  there 


Q2  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

are  more  than  a  dozen  dwellings  in  the  same 
square  mile  of  area. 

The  pastoral  life  he  and  his  ancestors  have 
been  leading  has  endowed  him  with  a  happy- 
go-lucky  disposition.  Some  call  him  lazy  and 
sluggish  because  he  has  plenty  of  time  at  his 
disposal  and  "  counts  ten "  before  acting. 
Others  might  call  that  disposition  a  realization 
of  his  necessities,  and  his  chosen  method  of 
providing  for  them. 

The  watching  of  herds  of  cattle  and  flocks 
of  sheep  has  since  biblical  times  been  consid- 
ered an  easier  business  than  the  digging  of 
minerals  or  the  manufacture  of  iron,  and  the 
Boer  has  realized  that  many  years  ago.  He 
has  also  realized  the  utter  uselessness  of  dig- 
ging for  minerals  and  the  manufacture  of  iron 
when  the  products  of  either  were  valueless  at 
a  distance  of  a  thousand  miles  from  the 
nearest  market.  Taking  these  facts  in  con- 
sideration, the  Boer  has  done  what  other  less 
nomadic  people  have  done.  He  has  im- 
proved the  opportunities  which  lay  before 
him,  and  has  allowed  the  others  to  pass 
untouched. 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY 


93 


The  Boers  are  not  an  agricultural  people, 
because  the  nature  of  the  country  affords  no 
encouragement  for  the  following  of  that  pur- 
suit. The  great  heat  of  the  summer  removes 
rivers  in  a  week  and  leaves  rivulets  hardly  big 
enough  to  quench  the  thirst  of  the  cattle.  Irri- 
gation is  out  of  the  question,  as  the  great  rivers 
are  too  far  distant  and  the  country  too  level 
to  warrant  the  building  of  artificial  waterways. 
Taking  all  things  into  consideration,  there  is 
nothing  for  a  Boer  to  do  but  raise  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  he  may  regard  himself  particularly 
fortunate  at  the  end  of  each  year  if  drought 
and  disease  have  not  carried  away  one  half  of 
this  wealth. 

The  Boer's  habits  and  mode  of  life  are  simi- 
lar to  those  of  the  American  ranchman,  and 
in  reality  there  is  not  much  difference  between 
the  two  except  that  the  latter  is  not  so  far  re- 
moved from  civilization.  The  Boer  likes  to 
be  out  of  the  sight  of  tfce  smoke  of  his  neigh- 
bour's house,  and  to  live  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
from  another  dwelling  is  a  matter  of  satisfac- 
tion rather  than  regret  to  him.  The  patriarchal 
custom  of  the  people  provides  against  the  lack 


94  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

of  companionship  which  naturally  would  follow 
this  custom. 

When  a  Boer's  children  marry  they  settle 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  original  family 
homestead ;  generally  several  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant. In  this  way,  in  a  few  years,  a  small  vil- 
lage is  formed  on  the  family  estates,  which  may 
consist  of  from  five  hundred  to  ten  thousand 
acres  of  uninclosed  grazing  ground.  Every 
son  when  he  marries  is  entitled  to  a  share  of 
the  estate,  which  he  is  supposed  to  use  for  the 
support  of  himself  and  his  family,  and  in  that 
way  the  various  estates  grow  smaller  each 
generation.  When  an  estate  grows  too  small 
to  support  the  owner,  he  "  treks  "  to  another 
part  of  the  country,  and  receives  from  the  state 
such  an  amount  of  territory  as  he  may  re- 
quire. 

Boer  houses,  as  a  rule,  are  situated  a  long 
distance  away  from  the  tracks  of  the  transport 
wagons,  in  order  that  gassing  infected  animals 
may  not  introduce  disease  into  the  flocks  and 
herds  of  the  farmer.  Strangers  are  seldom  seen 
as  a  result  of  this  isolation,  and  news  from  the 
outer  world  does  not  reach  the  Boers  unless 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY 


95 


they  travel  to  the  towns  to  make  the  annual 
purchases  of  necessaries. 

Their  chief  recreation  is  the  shooting  of 
game,  which  abounds  in  almost  all  parts  of 
the  country.  Besides  being  their  recreation,  it 
is  also  their  duty,  for  it  is  much  cheaper  to  kill 
a  buck  and  use  it  to  supply  the  family  larder 
than  to  kill  an  ox  or  a  sheep  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. It  is  seldom  that  a  Boer  misses  his 
aim,  be  the  target  a  deer  or  an  Englishman, 
and  he  has  ample  time  to  become  proficient 
in  the  use  of  the  rifle.  His  gun  is  his  constant 
companion  on  the  veldt  and  at  his  home,  and 
the  long  alliance  has  resulted  in  earning  for 
him  the  distinction  of  being  the  best  marks- 
man and  the  best  irregular  soldier  in  the  world. 
The  Boer  is  not  a  sportsman  in  the  American 
sense  of  the  word.  He  is  a  hunter,  pure  and 
simple,  and  finds  no  delight  in  following  the 
Englishman's  example  of  spending  many  weeks 
in  the  Zambezi  forests  or  the  dangerous  Kala- 
hari Desert,  and  returning  with  a  giraffe  tail 
and  a  few  horns  and  feathers  as  trophies  of  the 
chase.  He  hunts  because  he  needs  meat  for 
his  family  and  leather  for  sjam-bok  whips  with 


96  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

which  to  drive  his  cattle,  and  not  because  it 
gives  him  personal  gratification  to  be  able  to 
demonstrate  his  supreme  skill  in  the  tracking 
of  game. 

The  dress  of  the  Boer  is  of  the  roughest 
description  and  material,  and  suited  to  his  oc- 
cupation. Corduroy  and  flannel  for  the  body, 
a  wide-brimmed  felt  hat  for  the  head,  and  soft 
leather-soled  boots  fitted  for  walking  on  the 
grass,  complete  the  regulation  Boer  costume, 
which  is  picturesque  as  well  as  serviceable. 
The  clothing,  which  is  generally  made  by  the 
Boer's  vrouw,  or  wife,  makes  no  pretension  of 
fit  or  style,  and  is  quite  satisfactory  to  the  wear- 
er if  it  clings  to  the  body.  In  most  instances 
it  is  built  on  plans  made  and  approved  by  the 
Voortrekkers  of  1835,  and  quite  satisfactory  to 
the  present  Boers,  their  sons,  and  grandsons. 

Physically,  the  Boers  are  the  equals,  if  not 
the  superiors,  of  their  old-time  ene*my,  the 
Zulus.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere 
an  entire  race  of  such  physical  giants  as  the 
Boers  of  the  Transvaal  and  the  Orange  Free 
State.  The  roving  existence,  the  life  in  the 
open  air,  and  the  freedom  from  disturbing 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY 


97 


cares  have  combined  to  make  of  the  Boers  a 
race  that  is  almost  physically  perfect.  If  an 
average  height  of  all  the  full-grown  males  in 
the  country  were  taken,  it  would  be  found  to 
be  not  less  than  six  feet  two  inches,  and  prob- 
ably more.  Their  physique,  notwithstanding 
their  comparatively  idle  mode  of  living,  is  mag- 
nificently developed. 

The  action  of  the  almost  abnormally  devel- 
oped muscles  of  the  legs  and  arms,  discernible 
through  their  closely  fitting  garments,  gives 
an  idea  of  the  remarkable  powers  of  endurance 
which  the  Boers  have  displayed  on  many  oc- 
casions when  engaged  in  native  and  other 
campaigns.  They  can  withstand  almost  any 
amount  of  physical  pain  and  discomfort,  and 
can  live  for  a  remarkably  long  time  on  the 
smallest  quantity  of  foojl.  It  is  a  matter  of 
common  knowledge  that  a  Boer  can  subsist 
on  a  five-pound  slice  of  "  biltong  " — beef  that 
has  been  dried  in  the  sun  until  it  is  almost  as 
hard  as  stone — for  from  ten  to  fifteen  days  with- 
out suffering  any  pangs  of  hunger.  In  times 
of  war,  "  biltong  "  is  the  principal  item  in  the 
army  rations,  and  in  peace,  when  he  is  follow- 


98  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ing  his  flocks,  it  also  is  the  Boer  shepherd's 
chief  article  of  diet. 

The  religion  of  the  Boers  is  one  of  their 
greatest  characteristics,  and  one  that  can  hardly 
be  understood  when  it  is  taken  into  considera- 
tion that  they  have  been  separated  for  almost 
two  hundred  years  from  the  refining  influences 
of  a  higher  civilization.  The  simple  faith  in  a 
Supreme  Being,  which  the  original  emigrants 
from  Europe  carried  to  South  Africa,  has  been 
handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another, 
and  in  two  centuries  of  fighting,  trekking,  and 
ranching  has  lost  none  of  its  pristine  depth 
and  fervour. 

With  the  Boer  his  religion  is  his  first  and 
uppermost  thought.  The  Old  Testament  is 
the  pattern  which  he  strives  to  follow.  The 
father  of  the  family  reads  from  its  pages  every 
day,  and  from  it  he  formulates  his  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong  as  they  are  to  be  applied  to  the 
work  of  the  day.  Whether  he  wishes  to  ex- 
change cattle  with  his  neighbour  or  give  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  a  neighbour's  son,  he 
consults  the  Testament,  and  finds  therein  the 
advice  that  is  applicable  to  the  situation.  He 


u 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY 


99 


reads  nothing  but  the  Bible,  and  consequently 
his  belief  in  its  teachings  is  indestructible  and 
supreme. 

His  religious  temperament  is  portrayed  in 
almost  every  sentence  he  utters,  and  his  repeti- 
tion of  biblical  parables  and  sayings  is  a  cus- 
tom which  so  impresses  itself  upon  the  mind 
of  the  stranger  that  it  is  but  natural  that  those 
who  are  unacquainted  with  the  Boer  should 
declare  it  a  sure  sign  of  his  hypocrisy.  He  does 
not  quote  Scripture  merely  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  of  his  hearer  the  fact  that  he  is  a  de- 
vout Christian,  but  does  it  for  the  same  reasons 
that  a  sailor  speaks  the  language  of  the  sea- 
farer. 

The  Boer  is  a  low  churchman  among  low 
churchmen.  He  abhors  anything  that  has  the 
slightest  tendency  toward  show  or  outward 
signs  of  display  in  religious  worship.  He  is 
simple  in  his  other  habits,  and  in  his  religious 
observances  he  is  almost  primitively  simple. 
To  him  the  wearing  of  gorgeous  raiment,  spe- 
cial attitudes,  musical  accompaniment  to  hymns, 
and  special  demonstrations  are  the  rankest  sacri- 
lege. Of  the  nine  legal  holidays  in  the  Trans- 


100  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

vaal,  five — Good  Friday,  Easter  Monday,  As- 
cension Day,  Whit  Monday,  and  Christmas — 
are  Church  festival  days,  and  are  strictly  ob- 
served by  every  Boer  in  the  country. 

The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  has  been  the 
state  Church  since  .1835,  when  the  Boers  com- 
menced emigrating  from  Cape  Colony.  The 
"  trekkers "  had  no  regularly  ordained  minis- 
ters, but  depended  upon  the  elders  for  their 
religious  training,  as  well  as  for  leadership  in 
all  temporal  affairs.  One  of  the  first  clergy- 
men to  preach  to  the  Boers  was  an  American, 
the  Rev.  Daniel  Lindley,  who  was  one  of  the 
earliest  missionaries  ever  sent  to  South  Africa. 
The  state  controls  the  Church,  and,  conversely, 
the  Church  controls  the  state,  for  it  is  neces- 
sary for  a  man  to  become  a  factor  in  religious 
affairs  before  he  can  become  of  any  political 
importance.  As  a  result  of  this  custom;  the 
politicians  are  necessarily  the  most  active 
church  members. 

The  Hervormde  Dopper  branch  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  is  the  result  of  a 
disagreement  in  1883  with  the  Gereformeerde 
branch  over  the  singing  of  hymns  during  a 


THE    BOER   OF   TO-DAY  IOI 

religious  service.  The  Doppers,  led  by  Paul 
Kruger,  peaceably  withdrew,  and  started  a 
congregation  of  their  own  when  the  more  pro- 
gressive faction  insisted  on  singing  hymns, 
which  the  Doppers  declared  was  extremely 
worldly. 

Since  then  the  two  chief  political  parties 
are  practically  based  on  the  differences  in  re- 
ligion. The  Progressive  party  is  composed  of 
those  who  sing  hymns,  and  the  members  of 
the  Conservative  party  are  those  who  are  more 
Calvinistic  in  their  tendencies.  As  the  Con- 
servatives have  been  in  power  for  the  last 
decade,  it  follows  that  the  majority  of  the  Boers 
are  opposed  to  the  singing  of  hymns  in  church. 
The  greatest  festival  in  the  Boer  calendar  is 
that  of  Nachtmaal,  or  Communion,  which  is 
generally  held  in  Pretoria  the  latter  part  of 
the  year. 

The  majority  of  the  Boers  living  in  remote 
parts  of  the  country,  where  established  con- 
gregations or  churches  are  an  impossibility,  it 
behooves  every  Boer  to  journey  to  the  capital 
once  a  year  to  partake  of  communion.  Pre- 
toria then  becomes  the  Mecca  of  all  Boers,  and 
8 


102  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

the  pretty  little  town  is  filled  to  overflowing 
with  pilgrims  and  their  "  trekking "  wagons 
and  cattle.  Those  who  live  in  remote  parts  of 
the  country  are  obliged  to  start  several  weeks 
before  the  Nachtmaal  in  order  to  be  there  at 
the  appointed  time,  and  the  whole  journey  to 
and  fro  in  many  instances  requires  six  weeks' 
time.  When  they  reach  Pretoria  they  bivouac 
in  the  open  square  surrounding  the  old  brick 
church  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  spend 
almost  all  their  time  in  the  church.  It  is  one 
of  the  grandest  scenes  in  South  Africa  to  ob- 
serve the  pilgrims  camping  in  the  open  square 
under  the  shade  of  the  patriarchal  church, 
which  to  them  is  the  most  sacred  edifice  in 
the  world. 

The  home  life  of  the  Boers  is  as  distinctive 
a  feature  of  these  rough,  simple  peoples  as  is 
their  deep  religious  enthusiasm.  If  there  is 
anything  that  his  falsifiers  have  attacked,  it  is 
the  Boer's  home  life,  and  those  who  have  had 
the  opportunity  to  study  it  will  vouch  that 
none  more  admirable  exists  anywhere.  The 
Boer  heart  is  filled  with  an  intense  feeling  of 
family  affection.  He  loves  his  wife  and  chil- 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  103 

dren  above  all  things,  and  he  is  never  too  busy 
to  eulogize  them.  He  will  allow  his  flocks 
to  wander  a  mile  away  while  he  relates  a 
trifling  incident  of  family  life,  and  he  would 
rather  miss  an  hour's  sleep  than  not  take  ad- 
vantage of  an  opportunity  to  talk  on  domestic 
topics. 

He  does  not  gossip,  because  he  sees  his 
neighbours  too  rarely  for  that,  but  he  will  lay 
before  you  the  detailed  history  and  distinctive 
features  of  every  one  of  his  ancestors,  relations, 
and  descendants.  He  is  hospitable  to  a  de- 
gree that  is  astonishing,  and  he  will  give  to  a 
stranger  the  best  room  in  the  house,  the  use 
of  his  best  horse,  and  his  finest  food.  Natu- 
rally he  will  not  give  an  effusive  welcome  to 
an  Englishman,  because  he  is  the  natural  ene- 
my of  the  Boer,  but  to  strangers  of  other  na- 
tionalities he  opens  his  heart  and  house. 

The  programme  of  the  Boer's  day  is  hardly 
ever  marred  by  any  changes.  He  rises  with 
the  sun,  and  works  among  the  sheep  and  cat- 
tle until  breakfast.  There  at  the  table  he  meets 
his  family  and  conducts  the  family  worship. 
If  the  parents  of  the  married  couple  are  pres- 


IO4 


OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 


ent,  they  receive  the  best  seats  at  the  table, 
and  are  treated  with  great  reverence. 

After  breakfast  he  makes  his  plans  for  the 
day's  work,  which  may  consist  of  a  forward 
"  trek  "  or  a  hunting  trip.  He  attends  to  the 
little  plot  of  cultivated  ground,  which  pro- 
vides all  the  vegetables  and  grain  for  the  table, 
and  spends  the  remainder  of  the  day  in  attend- 
ing to  the  cattle  and  sheep.  Toward  night  he 
gathers  his  family  around  him,  and  reads  to 
them  selected  chapters  from  the  Bible.  From 
the  same  book  he  teaches  his  children  to  read 
until  twilight  is  ended,  whereupon  the  Boer's 
day  is  ended,  and  he  seeks  his  bed. 

During  the  dry  season  the  programme 
varies  only  as  far  as  his  place  of  abode  is  con- 
cerned. With  the  arrival  of  that  season  the 
Boer  closes  his  house  and  becomes  a  wanderer 
in  pursuit  of  water.  The  sheep  and  cattle  are 
driven  to  the  rivers,  and  the  family  follows  in 
big  transport  wagons,  not  unlike  the  American 
prairie-schooner,  propelled  by  eight  spans  of 
oxen.  The  family  moves  from  place  to  place 
as  the  necessity  for  new  pasturage  arises.  With 
the  approach  of  the  wet  season  the  nomads 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  105 

prepare  for  the  return  to  the  deserted  home- 
stead, and,  as  soon  as  the  first  rain  has  fallen 
and  the  grass  has  changed  the  colour  of  the 
landscape,  the  Boer  and  his  vast  herds  are 
homeward  bound. 

The  Boer  homestead  is  as  unpretentious  as 
its  owner.  Generally  it  is  a  low,  one-story 
stone  structure,  with  a  steep  tile  roof  and  a 
small  annex  in  the  rear,  which  is  used  as  a 
kitchen.  The  door  is  on  a  level  with  the 
ground,  and  four  windows  afford  all  the  light 
that  is  required  in  the  four  square  rooms  in  the 
interior.  A  dining  room  and  three  bedrooms 
suffice  for  a  family,  however  large.  The  floors 
are  of  hardened  clay,  liberally  coated  with  ma- 
nure, which  is  designed  to  ward  off  the  pes- 
tiferous insects  that  swarm  over  the  plains. 

The  house  is  usually  situated  in  a  valley 
and  close  to  a  stream,  and,  in  rare  instances,  is 
sheltered  by  a  few  trees  that  have  been  brought 
from  the  coast  country.  Native  trees  are  such 
a  rarity  that  the  traveller  may  go  five  hundred 
miles  without  seeing  a  single  specimen.  The 
Boer  vrouw  feels  no  need  of  firewood,  how- 
ever, for  her  ancestors  taught  her  to  cook  her 


106  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

meals  over  a  fire  of  the  dry  product  of  the  cattle- 
decked  plains. 

Personal  uncleanliness  is  one  of  the  great 
failings  that  has  been  attributed  to  the  Boer, 
but  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that 
water  is  a  priceless  possession  on  the  plains  of 
South  Africa,  no  further  explanation  is  needed. 
The  canard  that  the  Boers  go  to  bed  without 
undressing  is  as  absurd  as  the  one  of  like  ori- 
gin that  an  entire  family  sleeps  in  one  bed. 
Yet  these  fictions  constantly  appear,  and  fre- 
quently over  the  names  of  persons  who  have 
penetrated  into  South  Africa  no  farther  than 
Cape  Town. 

The  Boer  here  depicted  is  the  representa- 
tive Boer — the  one  who  shoulders  his  rifle  and 
fights  for  his  country;  the  one  who  watches 
his  cattle  on  the  plains  and  pays  his  taxes;  the 
one  who  tries  to  improve  his  condition,  and 
takes  advantage  of  every  opportunity  for  ad- 
vancement that  is  offered.  There  is  a  worth- 
less Boer,  as  there  is  a  worthless  Englishman, 
a  worthless  German,  and  a  worthless  Ameri- 
can, but  he  is  so  far  in  the  minority  that  he 
need  not  be  analyzed. 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  107 

There  is,  however,  a  Boer  who  lives  in  the 
towns  and  cities,  and  he  compares  favourably 
with  other  men  of  South  African  birth.  He 
has  had  the  advantage  of  better  schools,  and 
can  speak  one  or  more  languages  besides  his 
own.  He  is  not  so  nomadic  in  his  tendencies 
as  his  rural  countryman,  and  he  has  absorbed 
more  of  the  modernisms.  He  can  conduct  a 
philosophic  argument,  and  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ters can  play  the  piano.  If  he  is  wealthy,  his 
son  is  a  student  at  a  European  university  and 
his  daughter  flirting  on  the  beach  at  Durban 
or  attending  a  ladies'  seminary  at  Bloemfontein 
or  Grahamstown. 

He  is  as  progressive  as  any  white  man  cares 
to  be  under  that  generous  South  African  sun, 
and  when  it  comes  to  driving  a  bargain  he  is 
a  match  for  any  of  the  money  sharks  of  Johan- 
nesburg. For  the  youthful  Boer  who  reaches 
the  city  directly  from  the  country,  without  any 
trade  or  profession,  the  prospects  are  gloomy. 
He  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  when  put  into 
competition  with  almost  any  class  of  residents. 
The  occupations  to  which  he  can  turn  are  few, 
and  these  have  been  still  further  restricted  in 


108  OOM  PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

late  years  by  the  destruction  of  cattle  by  the 
rinderpest  and  the  substitution  of  railways  for 
road  transport.  His  lack  of  education  unfits 
him  for  most  of  the  openings  provided  in  such 
a  city  as  Johannesburg,  even  when  business  is 
at  its  highest  tide,  and  a  small  increase  in  the 
tension  of  business  brings  him  to  absolute 
want. 

The  Boer  of  to-day  is  a  creature  of  circum- 
stance. He  is  outstripped  because  he  has  had 
no  opportunities  for  development.  Driven  from 
Cape  Colony,  where  he  was  rapidly  develop- 
ing a  national  character,  he  was  compelled  to 
wander  into  lands  that  offered  no  opportunities 
of  any  description.  He  has  been  cut  off  for 
almost  a  hundred  years  from  an  older  and 
more  energetic  civilization,  and  even  from  his 
neighbours;  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  is  a  cen- 
tury behind  the  van.  No  other  civilized  race 
on  earth  has  been  handicapped  in  such  a  man- 
ner, and  if  there  had  been  one  it  is  a  matter 
for  conjecture  whether  it  would  have  held  its 
own,  as  the  Boer  has  done,  or  whether  it  would 
have  fallen  to  the  level  of  the  savage. 

Had  the  Boer  Voortrekkers  been  fortunate 


THE   BOER   OF   TO-DAY  IOg 

enough  to  settle  in  a  fertile  country  bordering 
on  the  sea,  where  they  might  have  had  com- 
munication with  the  outer  world,  their  descend- 
ants would  undoubtedly  to-day  be  growing 
cane  and  wheat  instead  of  herding  cattle  and 
driving  transport  wagons.  Their  love  of  free- 
dom could  not  have  been  greater  under  those 
circumstances,  but  they  might  have  averted 
the  conditions  which  now  threaten  to  erase 
their  nation  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  V 

PRESIDENT    KRUGER 

STEPHANUS  JOHANNES  PAULUS  KRUGER,  or 
Uncle  Paul,  the  Lion  of  Rustenberg,  is  a  man 
of  most  remarkable  characteristics.  A  man  of 
absolutely  no  education,  as  we  understand  the 
word,  he  has,  during  the  long  years  of  a  notable 
career,  so  applied  his  inherent  abilities,  his  nat- 
ural astuteness,  the  cunning  acquired  by  con- 
stant battling  with  the  wiles  of  native  enemies, 
as  to  be  able  to  acquit  himself  of  his  high  of- 
fice in  a  manner  to  be  envied  by  many  who 
have  enjoyed  a  hundred  times  as  many  advan- 
tages. Although  he  is  almost  seventy-five 
years  old,  the  President's  mind  has  not  become 
dimmed,  but,  if  anything,  has  grown  keener 
of  perception  and  wider  in  its  scope  during 
the  last  ten  years. 

Since  his  youth  Mr.  Kruger  has  been  a  leader 
among  his  countrymen.  When  a  boy  he  had 


PRESIDENT    KRUGER  m 

pronounced  ability  as  a  deer-stalker,  and  it  is 
related  of  him  that  before  he  had  reached  man- 
hood he  had  killed  more  lions  than  any  other 
man  in  the  colony.  He  was  absolutely  fearless, 
and  could  endure  any  amount  of  bodily  pain 
and  discomfort.  As  an  example  of  this,  I  re- 
peat his  explanation  of  the  accident  that  caused 
him  to  lose  his  left  thumb: 

"  We  were  shooting  rhinoceros  one  day," 
said  he,  "  when  an  old  gun  exploded  in  my 
hands.  It  cut  my  thumb  so  badly  that  I  saw 
it  could  not  be  saved.  I  borrowed  a  dull 
knife  and  cut  the  thumb  off,  because  it  pre- 
vented me  from  holding  the  gun  properly." 

President  Kruger's  personality  is  most 
unique.  He  impresses  one  as  being  a  king  in 
the  garb  of  a  farmer,  a  genius  in  a  dunce's  cap. 
At  first  sight  he  would  be  mistaken  for  an  awk- 
ward countryman,  with  "  store  clothes  "  and  a 
silk  hat  intended  for  some  one  else.  His  frock 
coat  is  far  too  small  to  reach  around  his  cor- 
pulent body,  and  his  trousers  seem  to  have  a 
natural  antipathy  for  his  shoes. 

He  wears  no  cuffs,  and  the  presence  of  a 
collar  and  tie  may  be  determined  only  by 


112  COM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

drawing  aside  the  natural  curtain  formed  by 
his  whiskers.  He  is  uncouth  in  his  manner, 
but  he  has  great  natural  attractiveness  gained 
by  a  long  life  among  hunters  in  the  wilds.  He 
is  suspicious  of  everything  and  every  one,  but 
that  quality  is  easily  accounted  for  by  his  early 
dealings  with  negro  chiefs,  whose  treacherous 
habits  caused  him  to  become  wary  in  all  his 
transactions  with  them.  In  later  days  this  has 
stood  him  in  good  stead.  He  is  slow  to  make 
friends,  but  once  he  trusts  a  person  voluminous 
proof  is  necessary  before  he  alters  his  opin- 
ion of  the  man.  He  never  forgets  a  good 
deed,  and  never  pardons  the  man  who  does  a 
bad  one. 

President  Kruger  is  short  in  stature,  meas- 
uring less  than  five  feet  seven  inches.  His 
head  and  body  are  large  and  fat,  but  his  legs 
are  thin  and  short.  His  head  is  just  a  trifle 
longer  than  broad,  and  almost  fits  the  English 
definition  of  "  square  head."  The  small  eyes 
are  surmounted  by  bushy,  white  eyebrows, 
which  extend  half  an  inch  beyond  his  forehead. 

When  he  is  not  sitting  for  a  photograph 
his  hair  is  not  so  neatly  arranged  as  it  appears 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  113 

in  the  well-known  pictures,  but  hangs  loosely 
down  over  his  wide  forehead,  except  when,  with 
a  hasty  swish  of  the  hand,  he  brushes  it  aside. 
The  hair  is  nearly  white,  and  hangs  over  the 
sides  of  his  head  in  long  tresses,  which  cover 
both  his  ears. 

When  he  smiles  the  big  fat  circles  above 
his  cheeks  are  pushed  upward,  and  shut  his 
small  gray  eyes  from  view.  But  when  pleased 
the  President  generally  laughs  hilariously,  and 
then  his  eyes  remain  closed  for  the  greater 
part  of  a  minute.  Mr.  Kruger's  nose  and  mouth 
are  the  chief  features  of  his  face.  Both  are 
more  extensive  than  his  large  face  demands, 
but  they  are  such  marvels  in  their  own  peculiar 
way  as  to  be  distinguishing  marks.  The  bridge 
of  the  nose  grows  wide  as  it  goes  outward  from 
the  point  between  the  eyes,  and  before  it  reaches 
the  tip  it  has  a  gentle  upheaval.  Then  it  spreads 
out  on  either  side,  and  covers  fully  two  inches 
of  area  above  his  upper  lip.  It  is  not  attract- 
ive, but  in  that  it  follows  the  general  condition 
of  his  facial  landscape. 

The  mouth  is  wide  and  ungainly.  The  con- 
stant use  of  a  heavy  pipe  has  caused  a  deep  de- 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

pression  on  the  left  side  of  his  lower  lip,  and 
this  gives  the  whole  mouth  the  appearance  of 
being  unbalanced.  His  chin  is  large  and  promi- 
nent, and  his  ears  correspond  relatively  in  size 
and  symmetry  with  his  face.  When  in  repose 
his  features  are  not  pleasant  to  look  upon,  but 
when  lighted  up  by  a  smile  they  become  rather 
attractive,  and  generally  cause  his  laughter  to 
become  contagious  among  his  hearers. 

The  thin  line  of  beard  which  runs  from  ear 
to  ear  combines  with  the  hair  on  his  head 
in  forming  what  is  not  unlike  a  white  halo 
around  the  President's  face.  The  lines  in  the 
man's  face  are  deep,  irregular,  and  very  numer- 
ous. They  indicate  more  than  anything  the 
ceaseless  worry  and  troubles  to  which  the  Presi- 
dent has  been  subjected  while  directing  the  af- 
fairs of  his  countrymen  of  the  Transvaal. 

The  physical  description  of  the  Kruger  of 
to-day  is  one  that  suggests  sluggishness  and 
idleness  rather  than  alertness  and  ceaseless  ac- 
tivity. The  appearance  of  the  man  certainly 
does  not  conform  with  his  record  of  marvel- 
lous performances,  unflagging  endeavour,  and 
superior  mental  attainments.  The  well-pre- 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  nj 

served  Kruger  at  seventy-five  years  bears  no 
deep  marks  of  the  busy  and  eventful  life  he 
has  led,  nor  are  there  any  visible  indications 
that  the  end  of  his  usefulness  to  his  people  is 
close  at  hand. 

The  fragmentary  history  of  Mr.  Kruger's 
life,  as  related  by  himself,  gives  an  insight  into 
his  remarkably  varied  experiences.  He  mod- 
estly refrains  from  allowing  any.  one,  even  those 
who  know  him  best,  to  obtain  from  him  enough 
of  his  own  history  to  incorporate  in  a  biogra- 
phy, and  it  is  likely,  unless  in  his  later  years 
he  changes  his  mind,  that  no  detailed  narrative 
can  ever  be  written. 

Although  the  majority  of  his  countrymen 
are  of  Dutch  or  Huguenot  ancestry,  Mr.  Kruger 
is  of  German  descent.  Jacob  Kruger,  his  pa- 
ternal ancestor,  emigrated  to  South  Africa,  in 
1713,  from  the  Potsdam  district  of  Germany, 
and  married  a  young  woman  who  was  born  in 
Cape  Colony.  He  was  born  October  10,  1825, 
in  Colesburg,  Cape  Colony,  whither  his  parents 
had  "  trekked  "  from  Cape  Town  a  quarter  of 
a  century  before.  The  first  Krugers  whose 
names  appear  in  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 


Il6  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

pany's  records  arrived  in  the  settlement  at  the 
Cape  in  1712,  and  thereafter  became  leaders 
in  enterprise  among  the  settlers.  While  Mr. 
Kruger  was  yet  in  his  infancy  the  Boers'  trou- 
bles with  the  Colonial  Government  began,  and 
when  he  was  ten  years  old  he  migrated  with 
the  "  Voortrekkers "  to  the  unknown  regions 
in  the  interior. 

The  life  in  the  open  and  the  tropical  tem- 
perature served  to  develop  him  early,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  we  find  him  shooting  his  first 
lion,  as  well  as  serving  in  the  capacity  of  "  field 
cornet,"  a  minor  official  position.  As  such  he 
took  part  in  the  wars  with  the  Zulu  Dingaan 
and  the  Matabele  Moselekatse,  and  served  with 
distinction.  In  1842  he  was  confirmed  by  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Lindley,  the  American  missionary, 
and  had  implanted  more  firmly  in  his  heart 
the  religious  feeling  which  in  later  years  has 
proved  to  be  his  greatest  solace  in  his  troubles. 

Next  we  hear  of  him  standing  by  the  side 
of  his  father  while  he  fires  the  first  shot  at  the 
English  soldiers  in  the  battle  of  Boomplaats, 
in  1848.  After  doing  valiant  service  in  that 
battle,  he  became  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER 

"  trekkers "  who  settled  in  the  Transvaal 
country. 

In  1856  young  Kruger,  then  barely  thirty- 
one  years  old,  is  elected  sub-commandant  of  the 
Transvaal  army,  a  most  responsible  position  in 
a  country  where  natives  are  as  treacherous  as 
they  are  innumerable.  Five  years  later  he  be- 
comes commandant  of  the  army,  and  leads  a 
force  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  against 
Chief  Sechele.  He  retains  that  office  until 
1877,  when  England  annexes  the  country  to 
her  domain.  During  the  war  for  independence 
which  then  ensues,  Mr.  Kruger  is  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  Triumvirate,  which  executes  the 
government  of  the  country,  and  after  peace  is 
declared  in  1883  he  is  elected  to  the  presidency. 
He  is  thrice  re-elected,  and  is  now  serving  his 
fourth  term  as  head  of  the  South  African  Re- 
public. 

Into  this  skeleton  of  his  life's  story  might 
be  fitted  innumerable  incidents  and  anecdotes 
that  are  related  by  his  countrymen,  who  treas- 
ure them  greatly  and  repeat  them  at  every  op- 
portunity. Many  of  these  are  probably  imagi- 
nary, while  others  have  undoubtedly  been  retold 


Il8  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

so  frequently  that  they  have  lost  all  resemblance 
of  the  original  form.  The  majority  of  the 
stories  refer  to  Mr.  Kruger's  prowess  in  deal- 
ing with  lions,  tigers,  and  elephants,  and  many 
of  these  are  probably  true.  Several  of  those 
that  he  himself  verifies  are  given  merely  to  illus- 
trate the  experiences  that  the  Boers  encoun- 
tered in  the  early  days  of  the  "  trekkers." 

When  fifteen  years  old  Kruger  and  one  of 
his  sisters,  being  left  alone  on  the  veldt  by 
their  parents,  were  approached  by  a  South 
African  panther,  small  but  of  ample  enough  pro- 
portions to  frighten  the  two  children.  Kruger, 
with  only  a  knife  for  a  weapon,  boldly  attacked 
the  panther,  and  after  a  severe  struggle,  dur- 
ing which  he  was  sorely  injured,  slew  the 
beast.  Another  story,  illustrative  of  his  phys- 
ical strength,  is  that  he  contested  with  a  native 
in  a  foot-race  of  twelve  hours'  duration,  and 
won  by  such  a  large  margin  that  he  was  en- 
abled to  stalk  a  buck  on  the  veldt  and  carry  it 
to  his  father's  house  before  his  competitor 
reached  the  goal. 

During  the  "  trekking  "  trip  from  Cape  Col- 
ony to  the  final  settlement  in  the  Transvaal  the 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER 

Boer  settlers  shot  no  less  than  six  thousand 
lions,  and  of  that  number  Kruger  is  credited 
with  shooting  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty. 

His  personal  bravery  was  never  shown  to 
better  advantage  than  in  1857,  when  he  was  sub- 
commandant  of  the  Transvaal  army.  He  had 
ordered  several  of  his  burghers  to  go  into  the 
Orange  Free  State,  with  which  country  there 
was  a  serious  misunderstanding,  and  there  they 
were  arrested.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Kruger  heard 
of  the  men's  arrest  he  hastened  into  the  camp 
of  the  Free  State  forces  and  asked  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  prisoners  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  innocent,  and  that  if  any  one  were  guilty 
he  was  that  man,  because  he  had  ordered  them 
to  enter  the  country.  The  commandant  of  the 
Free  State  forces  was  so  greatly  amazed  by 
Mr.  Kruger's  bravery  that  he  allowed  all  the 
Boers  to  return  to  their  own  camp. 

Mr.  Kruger's  remarkable  vitality  and  ca- 
pacity for  hard  mental  labour  are  the  results 
of  the  great  care  which  he  bestows  upon  him- 
self and  the  regular  habits  which  he  has  fol- 
lowed for  almost  twenty  years.  He  rises  at 


120  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

half  past  five  o'clock  every  morning,  and  fol- 
lows a  daily  programme,  from  which  he  never 
deviates  unless  he  is  absent  from  home.  After 
he  leaves  his  bedroom  he  proceeds  to  his  library 
and  drinks  several  cups  of  intensely  black  cof- 
fee, and  smokes  several  pipefuls  of  strong  Boer 
tobacco.  Then  he  spends  the  greater  part  of 
an  hour  in  family  devotions  and  the  perusal  of 
the  Bible.  After  breakfast,  at  half  past  seven 
o'clock,  he  receives  the  members  of  the  Volks- 
raad,  and  then  transacts  the  heaviest  business 
of  the  day,  After  all  the  Volksraad  members 
have  departed,  he  steps  out  on  the  piazza,  of 
his  little  whitewashed  cottage  and  joins  the 
burghers,  or  citizens,  who  every  morning  con- 
gregate there  and  discuss  state  affairs  while 
they  sip  the  coffee  and  smoke  the  tobacco 
which  the  President  furnishes  to  all  visitors. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  state  carriage  and  its  es- 
cort of  eight  gaudily  apparelled  troopers  await 
him  at  the  gate,  and  he  is  conveyed  to  the 
Government  House,  several  blocks  distant.  As 
soon  as  he  arrives  there  he  is  to  be  found  either 
in  one  legislative  chamber  or  the  other,  direct- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  two  bodies,  making  ad- 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  J2I 

dresses  or  quietly  watching  the  progress  of 
legislative  matters.  At  noon  he  returns  to  his 
home  for  luncheon,  but  is  back  at  his  duties 
in  the  Government  House  at  two  o'clock,  and 
remains  there  three  hours  in  the  afternoon. 
Thereafter  he  receives  burghers  at  his  home 
until  seven  o'clock,  and  retires  every  evening 
at  precisely  eight  o'clock. 

The  power  which  Mr.  Kruger  has  over  the 
majority  of  his  countrymen  is  due  in  no  small 
measure  to  his  fondness  for  conversing  with 
them  and  his  treatment  of  them  when  they 
visit  his  cottage.  As  soon  as  the  sun  has  risen, 
a  small  stream  of  Boers  wends  its  way  toward 
the  President's  cottage  and  awaits  his  appear- 
ance on  the  piazza..  When  Mr.  Kruger  comes 
among  them  he  loses  his  identity  as  President, 
and  merges  his  personality  into  that  of  an  ordi- 
nary burgher.  This  custom  has  endeared  him 
in  the  affections  of  his  people,  and,  as  a  result, 
whenever  he  makes  a  stand  on  any  question 
it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  has  thor- 
oughly discussed  the  subject  beforehand  with 
his  burghers,  and  that  he  can  depend  upon  the 
majority  of  them  for  their  support. 


122  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

Mr.  Kruger  is  a  speech-maker  of  no  mean 
ability.  His  addresses  in  the  Volksraad  are 
filled  with  good  reasoning,  homely  similes, 
biblical  quotations,  and  convincing  argument. 
He  speaks  without  preparation,  indulges  in  no 
flights  of  oratory,  but  uses  the  simple,  plain 
language  that  is  easily  understood  by  the 
burgher  as  well  as  the  statesman.  All  his 
speeches  are  delivered  in  the  Boer  "  taal," 
a  dialect  which  bears  the  same  relation  to  the 
Dutch  language  as  "  low "  German  does  to 
"  high  "  German.  Generally  the  dialect  is  used 
by  the  Boers  in  speaking  only,  the  pure  Dutch 
being  used  in  correspondence  and  official  state 
papers. 

The  President  may  be  able  to  speak  the 
English  language,  but  if  such  is  the  case  he 
succeeds  admirably  in  allowing  no  one  except 
his  most  trusted  friends  to  hear  him.  Much 
investigation  has  failed  to  reveal  any  one  in 
Pretoria  who  has  ever  heard  him  speak  the 
English  language,  although  reports  have  it  that 
he  speaks  it  fluently.  He  understands  the  lan- 
guage well,  and  any  one  who  has  ever  held  a 
conversation  with  him  through  an  interpreter 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER 


123 


will  recall  that  he  occasionally  forgets  his  as- 
sumed inability  to  understand  English,  and  re- 
plies to  a  question  before  the  interpreter  has 
commenced  to  translate  it. 

Mr.  Kruger  has  been  twice  married.  His 
first  wife,  a  Miss  Du  Plessis,  was  the  daughter 
of  one  of  the  early  voortrekkers,  and  with  the 
other  women  took  part  in  many  of  the  Boer 
wars  against  the  natives.  She  died  shortly 
after  the  founding  of  the  republic,  and  left  one 
son,  who  lived  only  a  short  time.  Mr.  Kruger 
several  years  afterward  married  his  first  wife's 
niece,  who  is  now  the  first  lady  of  the  land. 
Like  almost  all  Boer  women,  she  has  a  retir- 
ing disposition,  and  very  rarely  appears  in  pub- 
lic except  at  religious  gatherings.  The  Presi- 
dent rarely  introduces  her  to  his  visitors,  prob- 
ably in  obedience  to  her  own  desires,  but  she 
constantly  entertains  the  wives  and  daughters 
of  burghers  who  call  on  her  husband. 

President  and  Madame  Kruger  have  had 
sixteen  children,  seven  of  whom  still  live.  One 
of  his  sons  is  the  President's  private  secretary, 
and  a  youth  of  decidedly  modern  ideas  and 
tendencies.  Another  son  is  a  private  in  the 


124  OOM    PAUL>S   PEOPLE 

Pretoria  police,  a  state  military  organization 
in  which  he  takes  great  pride.  A  third  occu- 
pies his  father's  farm  near  Rustenberg.  The 
other  children  are  daughters,  who  are  married 
to  Boer  farmers  and  business  men.  One  of 
Kruger's  sons-in-law  is  Captain  F.  C.  Eloff,  who 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Uitlanders  during 
the  raid,  and  who  has  since  aroused  the  enmity 
of  the  English  residents  by  freely  expressing 
his  opinion  of  them  in  public  speeches.  Captain 
Eloff  is  several  times  a  millionaire,  and  lives  in 
a  two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar  man- 
sion. 

Popular  report  in  Pretoria  has  it  that  the 
President's  wealth  amounts  to  a  million  dollars, 
but  his  mode  of  living  certainly  does  not  be- 
tray it.  His  salary  as  President  is  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars,  in  addition  to  which  he  is 
annually  allowed  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for 
house-rent,  or  "  huishuur."  He  has  long  since 
purchased  the  house  in  which  he  lives,  but,  as 
the  allowance  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  is  an- 
nually paid  to  him,  the  English  residents  aver 
that  the  amount  is  intended  as  a  slight  reim- 
bursement to  him  for  the  money  he  spends  for 


PRESIDENT    KRUGER 


125 


the  coffee  and  tobacco  used  by  the  burgher 
callers  at  his  cottage.  During  the  later  years 
of  his  life  Barney  Barnato,  the  wizard  of  South 
African  finance,  supplied  to  the  President  all 
the  tobacco  he  used,  and  consequently  Mr. 
Kruger  was  able  to  save  the  Government  to- 
bacco allowance.  Barnato  also  presented  to 
Mr.  Kruger  two  handsome  marble  statues  of 
lions  which  now  adorn  the  lawn  of  the  presi- 
dential residence.  A  photograph  which  is 
greatly  admired  by  the  patriotic  Boers  repre- 
sents Mr.  Kruger  appropriately  resting  his  hand 
on  the  head  of  one  of  the  recumbent  lions  in 
a  manner  which  to  them  suggests  the  physical 
superiority  of  the  Boers  over  the  British. 

Mr.  Kruger  has  always  been  a  man  of  deep 
and  earnest  religious  convictions.  In  his  youth 
he  wyas  taught  the  virtues  of  a  Christian  life, 
and  it  is  not  recorded  that  he  ever  did  any- 
thing which  was  inconsistent  with  his  training. 
An  old  Zulu  headman  who  lives  near  the  Vaal 
River,  in  the  Orange  Free  State,  relates  that 
Mr.  Kruger  yoked  him  beside  an  ox  in  a  trans- 
port wagon  when  the  trekkers  departed  from 
Natal  in  the  early  '403,  and  compelled  him  to 


126  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

do  the  work  of  a  beast;  but  he  has  no  good 
reason  for  declaring  that  his  bondsman  was 
Mr.  Kruger  rather  than  any  one  of  the  other 
Boers  in  the  party. 

When  Mr.  Kruger  was  about  thirty-five 
years  old  his  religious  enthusiasm  led  him  into 
an  experience  which  almost  resulted  in  his 
death.  He  had  met  with  some  reverses,  which 
caused  him  to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  re- 
ligious assistance.  He  endeavoured  to  find 
comfort  and  consolation  in  his  Bible,  but  failed, 
and  he  became  sorely  troubled.  One  night, 
after  bidding  farewell  to  his  wife,  he  disappeared 
into  the  wilderness  of  the  Magalies  Hills,  a 
short  distance  west  of  Pretoria.  After  he  had 
been  absent  from  his  home  for  several  days, 
a  number  of  men  went  to  the  hills  to  search 
for  him,  and  found  him  on  his  knees  engaged 
in  singing  and  praying.  He  had  been  so  many 
days  without  food  and  water  that  he  was  too 
weak  to  rise  from  the  ground,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  men  to  carry  him  to  his  home. 
Since  that  experience  he  has  believed  himself 
to  be  a  special  instrument  of  a  divine  power, 
and  by  his  deeds  has  given  the  impression  that 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  127 

he  is  a  leader  chosen  to  defend  the  liberties 
and  homes  of  his  people. 

He  never  speaks  of  his  experience  in  the 
hills,  but  those  who  have  been  his  friends  for 
many  years  say  that  it  marked  an  epoch  in  his 
life.  The  Boers,  who  have  none  of  the  mod- 
ern cynicism  and  scepticism,  regard  him  as  the 
wielder  of  divine  power,  while  those  who  ad- 
mire nothing  which  he  is  capable  of  doing 
scoff  and  jeer  at  him  as  a  religious  fanatic,  and 
even  call  him  a  hypocrite.  Any  one  who  has 
observed  Mr.  Kruger  in  his  daily  habits,  or 
has  heard  him  in  the  pulpit  of  the  church  op- 
posite the  cottage  where  he  lives,  will  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  intensity  and  earnestness  of  his 
genuine  religious  feeling.  The  lessons  of  life 
which  he  draws  from  his  own  personal  experi- 
ences, and  expounds  to  his  congregation  with 
no.  little  degree  of  earnestness,  are  of  such  a 
character  as  to  remove  all  doubts  which  the 
mind  may  have  concerning  his  purity  of  pur- 
pose. 

Mr.  Kruger's  style  of  writing  is  unique,  but 
thoroughly  characteristic  of  himself.  The  many 
references  to  the  Deity,  the  oftentimes  pomp- 


!28  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ous  style,  the  words  which  breathe  of  the  in- 
tense interest  in  and  loyalty  to  his  countrymen, 
all  combine  to  make  his  state  communications 
and  proclamations  most  interesting  reading. 
The  following  proclamation,  made  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Johannesburg  several  days  after  the 
Jameson  raid,  is  typical: 

"  To  all  the  Residents  of  Johannesburg. 

"  I,  S.  J.  P.  Kruger,  State  President  of  the 
South  African  Republic,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Executive  Council,  by  virtue  of 
Article  VI  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Council,  dated 
January  10,  1896,  do  hereby  make  known  to 
all  the  residents  of  Johannesburg  and  neigh- 
bourhood that  I  am  inexpressibly  thankful  to 
God  that  the  despicable  and  treacherous  incur- 
sion into  my  country  has  been  prevented,  and 
the  independence  of  the  republic  saved,  through 
the  courage  and  bravery  of  my  burghers. 

"  The  persons  who  have  been  guilty  of  this 
crime  must  naturally  be  punished  according 
to  law — that  is  to  say,  they  must  stand  their 
trial  before  the  high  court  and  a  jury — but 
there  are  thousands  who  have  been  misled  and 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER 


129 


deceived,  and  it  has  clearly  appeared  to  me  that 
even  among  the  so-called  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment there  are  many  who  have  been  deceived. 

"  A  small  number  of  intriguers  in  and  out- 
side of  the  country  ingeniously  incited  a  num- 
ber of  the  residents  of  Johannesburg  and  sur- 
roundings to  struggle,  under  the  guise  of 
standing  up  for  political  rights,  and  day  by  day, 
as  it  were,  urged  them  on;  and  when  in  their 
stupidity  they  thought  that  the  moment  had 
arrived,  they  (the  intriguers)  caused  one  Dr. 
Jameson  to  cross  the  boundary  of  the  republic. 

"  Did  they  ever  ask  themselves  to  what  they 
were  exposing  you? 

"  I  shudder  when  I  think  what  bloodshed 
could  have  resulted  had  a  merciful  Providence 
not  saved  you  and  my  burghers. 

"  I  will  not  refer  to  the  financial  damage. 

"  Now  I  approach  you  with  full  confidence. 
Work  together  with  the  Government  of  this 
republic,  and  strengthen  their  hands  to  make 
this  country  a  land  wherein  people  of  all  na- 
tionalities may  reside  in  common  brotherhood. 

"  For  months  and  months  I  have  planned 
what  changes  and  reforms  could  have  been 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

considered  desirable  in  the  Government  and  the 
state,  but  the  loathsome  agitation,  especially 
of  the  press,  has  restrained  me. 

"  The  same  men  who  have  publicly  come 
forward  as  leaders  have  demanded  reforms 
from  me,  and  in  a  tone  and  a  manner  which 
they  would  not  have  ventured  to  have  done 
in  their  own  country,  owing  to  fear  for  the 
criminal  law.  For  that  cause  it  was  made  im- 
possible for  me  and  my  burghers,  the  found- 
ers of  this  republic,  to  take  their  preposterous 
proposals  in  consideration. 

"  It  is  my  intention  to  submit  a  draft  law 
at  the  first  ordinary  session  of  the  Raad,  where- 
by a  municipality,  with  a  mayor  at  the  head, 
would  be  granted  to  Johannesburg,  to  whom 
the  control  of  the  city  will  be  intrusted.  Ac- 
cording to  all  constitutional  principles,  the 
Municipal  Board  will  be  elected  by  the  people 
of  the  town. 

"  I  earnestly  request  you,  laying  your  hands 
on  your  hearts,  to  answer  me  this  question: 
After  what  has  happened,  can  and  may  I  sub- 
mit this  to  the  representatives  of  the  people? 
My  reply  is,  I  know  there  are  thousands  in 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  I3r 

Johannesburg  and  the  suburbs  to  whom  I  can 
intrust  such  elective  powers.  Inhabitants  of 
Johannesburg,  render  it  possible  for  the  Gov- 
ernment to  go  before  the  Volksraad  with  the 
motto,  '  Forgotten  and  Forgiven.' ' 

Mr.  Kruger's  political  platform  is  based  on 
one  of  the  paragraphs  of  a  manifesto  which 
he,  as  Vice-President  of  the  Triumvirate,  sent 
to  Sir  Owen  Lanyon,  the  British  Resident  Com- 
missioner, on  Dingaan's  Day,  1880,  when  the 
Boers  were  engaged  in  their  second  struggle 
for  independence.  The  paragraph,  which  was 
apparently  written  by  Mr.  Kruger,  reads: 

"  We  declare  before  God,  who  knows  the 
heart,  and  before  the  world:  Any  one  speaking 
of  us  as  rebels  is  a  slanderer!  The  people  of 
the  South  African  Republic  have  never  been 
subjects  of  Her  Majesty,  and  never  will  be." 

The  President's  hatred  of  the  English  was 
bred  in  the  bone,  and  it  will  never  be  eradicated. 
To  see  his  country  free  from  every  English  tie 
is  the  aim  of  his  existence,  and  every  act 
of  his  political  career  has  been  born  with  that 


132  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

thought.  His  own  political  aggrandizement 
has  always  been  a  secondary  thought.  He  him- 
self has  declared  that  there  is  no  one  in  the  re- 
public who  is  able  or  willing  to  complete  the 
independence  of  the  republic  with  such  little 
friction  as  he,  and  that,  such  being  the  case,  he 
would  be  a  traitor  to  desert  the  cause  in  the 
hours  of  its  gravest  peril.  He  considers  per- 
sonal victories  at  the  polls  of  his  own  country 
as  mere  stepping-stones  toward  that  greater 
victory  which  he  hopes  to  secure  over  the 
English  colonial  secretary,  and  the  day  that 
England  renounces  all  claim  to  suzerainty  over 
the  Transvaal  Mr.  Kruger  will  consider  his 
duty  done,  and  will  go  into  the  retirement 
which  his  great  work  and  the  fulness  of  his 
years  owe  him. 

For  a  man  whose  education  has  been  of 
the  scantiest,  and  whose  people  were  practical- 
ly unheard  of  until  he  brought  them  into 
prominence,  Paul  Kruger  has  received  from 
foreign  sources  many  remarkable  tributes  to 
the  wisdom  with  which  he  has  conducted  the 
affairs  of  the  country  under  circumstances  of 
more  than  ordinary  difficulty. 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER 


133 


That  which  he  received  from  Emperor  Wil- 
liam, of  Germany,  several  days  after  the  re- 
pulse of  the  Jameson  raiders,  was  perhaps  the 
finest  tribute  that  Mr.  Kruger  has  ever  re- 
ceived, and  one  that  created  a  greater  sensa- 
tion throughout  the  world  than  any  peaceful 
message  that  ever  passed  between  the  heads  of 
two  governments.  The  cablegram,  of  which 
the  text  follows,  is  one  of  the  most  priceless 
treasures  in  Mr.  Kruger's  collection: 

"  Received  January  jd,  i8g6. 

"  From    Wilhelm  7.  J?.,  Berlin. 
"  To  PRESIDENT  KRUGER,  Pretoria. 

"  I  tender  you  my  sincere  congratulations 
that,  without  appealing  to  the  help  of  friendly 
powers,  you  and  your  people  have  been  suc- 
cessful in  opposing  with  your  own  forces  the 
armed  bands  that  have  broken  into  your  coun- 
try to  disturb  the  peace,  in  restoring  order, 
and  in  maintaining  the  independence  of  your 
country  against  attacks  from  without. 

"  WILHELM  I.  R." 

Prince  Bismarck  declared  that  Kruger  was 
the  greatest  natural-born  statesman  of  the  time. 


134 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


William  E.  Gladstone,  who  had  many  oppor- 
tunities to  gauge  Kruger's  skill  in  diplomacy, 
referred  to  him  as  the  shrewdest  politician  on 
the  continent  of  Africa,  and  not  a  mean  com- 
petitor of  those  of  Europe.  Among  the  titles 
which  have  been  bestowed  upon  him  by  Eu- 
ropean rulers  are  Knight  of  the  First  Class  of 
the  Red  Eagle  of  Prussia,  Grand  Officer  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour,  Grand  Knight  of  the  Leo- 
pold Order  of  Belgium,  Grand  Knight  of  the 
Netherland  Lion,  and  Grand  Knight  of  the 
Portuguese  Order  of  Distinguished  Foreigners. 

If  a  detailed  history  of  Mr.  Kruger's  life 
could  be  obtained  from  his  own  lips,  it  would 
compare  favourably  with  those  of  the  notable 
characters  of  modern  times.  The  victories  he 
has  gained  in  the  field  of  diplomacy  may  not 
have  affected  as  many  people  as  those  of  Bis- 
marck; the  defeats  administered  in  battle  may 
not  have  been  as  crushing  as' those  of  Napo- 
leon, but  to  his  weakling  country  they  were 
equally  as  decisive  and  valuable. 

The  great  pyramid  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
is  seen  to  best  advantage  as  far  away  as  Cairo. 
Observed  close  at  hand,  it  serves  only  to  dis- 


PRESIDENT   KRUGER  135 

turb  the  spectator's  mind  with  an  indefinable 
sense  of  vastness,  crudity,  and  weight;  from  a 
distance  the  relative  proportions  of  all  things 
are  clearly  discerned.  So  it  is  with  the  career 
of  Mr.  Kruger.  Historic  perspective  is  neces- 
sary to  determine  the  value  of  the  man  to  the 
country.  Fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence,  when 
the  Transvaal  has  safely  emerged  from  its  pe- 
riod of  danger,  there  will  be  a  true  sense  of 
proportion,  so  that  his  labours  in  behalf  of  his 
country  may  be  judged  aright. 

At  this  time  the  critical  faculty  is  lacking 
because  his  life  work  is  not  ended,  and  its  en- 
tire success  is  not  assured.  He  has  earned  for 
himself,  however,  the  distinction  of  being  the 
greatest  diplomatist  that  South  Africa  has  ever 
produced.  Whether  the  fruits  of  his  diplomacy 
will  avail  to  keep  his  country  intact  is  a  ques- 
tion that  will  find  its  answer  in  the  results  of 
future  years.  He  has  succeeded  in  doing  that 
which  no  man  has  ever  done.  As  the  head  of 
the  earth's  weakest  nation  he  has  for  more  than 
a  decade  defied  its  strongest  power  to  take  his 
country  from  him.  That  should  be  sufficient 
honour  for  any  man. 


CHAPTER  VI 

INTERVIEW    WITH    PRESIDENT    KRUGER 

As  is  the  rule  with  them  everywhere,  Eng- 
lishmen in  South  Africa  speak  of  Mr.  Kruger 
with  contempt  and  derision.  Unprejudiced 
Americans  and  other  foreigners  in  South  Africa 
admire  him  for  his  patriotism,  his  courage  in 
opposing  the  dictatorial  policy  of  England's 
Colonial  Office,  and  his  efforts  to  establish  a 
republic  as  nearly  like  that  of  the  United  States 
of  America  as  possible.  My  desire  to  see  Mr. 
Kruger  was  almost  obliterated  a  week  after 
my  arrival  in  the  country  by  the  words  of 
condemnation  which  were  heaped  upon  him 
by  Englishmen  whenever  his  name  was  men- 
tioned. In  nearly  every  Englishman's  mind 
the  name  of  "  Oom  Paul  "  was  a  synonym  for 
all  that  was  corrupt  and  vile;  few  gave  him 
a  word  of  commendation. 

When  I  came  into  the  pretty  little  town 
136 


INTERVIEW   WITH   PRESIDENT   KRUGER    137 

of  Pretoria,  the  capital  of  the  Transvaal,  where 
the  President  lives  and  where  he  mingles  daily 
with  the  populace  with  as  much  freedom  and 
informality  as  a  country  squire,  there  was  a 
rapid  transformation  in  my  opinion  of  the 
man.  The  Boers  worship  their  leader;  to 
them  he  is  a  second  George  Washington,  and 
even  a  few  Englishmen  there  speak  with  ad- 
miration of  him. 

The  day  before  my  arrival  in  the  town 
John  McCann,  of  Johannesburg,  who  is  a 
former  New-Yorker  and  a  friend  of  the  Presi- 
dent, informed  Mr.  Kruger  of  my  intention  to 
visit  Pretoria.  The  President  had  refused  in- 
terviews to  three  representatives  of  influential 
London  newspapers  who  had  been  in  the  town 
three  months  waiting  for  the  opportunity,  but 
he  expressed  a  desire  to  see  an  American. 

"  The  Americans  won't  lie  about  me,"  he 
said  to  Mr.  McCann.  "  I  want  America  to 
learn  our  side  of  the  story  from  me.  They 
have  had  only  the  English  point  of  view."  I 
had  scarcely  reached  my  hotel  when  an  emis- 
sary from  the  President  called  and  made  an 
appointment  for  me  to  meet  him  in  the  after- 


138  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

noon.  The  emissary  conducted  me  to  the 
Government  Building,  where  the  Volksraad  was 
in  session,  and  it  required  only  a  short  time 
for  it  to  become  known  that  a  representative 
from  the  great  sister  republic  across  the  At- 
lantic desired  to  learn  the  truth  about  the 
Boers. 

I  was  overwhelmed  with  information.  Cabi- 
net members,  Raad  members,  the  Commissioner 
of  War,  the  Postmaster  General,  the  most 
honoured  and  influential  men  of  the  republic 
— men  who  had  more  than  once  risked  their 
lives  in  fighting  for  their  country's  preserva- 
tion— gathered  around  me  and  were  so  eager 
to  have  me  tell  America  of  the  wrongs  they 
had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  British  that  the 
scene  was  highly  pathetic. 

One  after  another  spoke  of  the  severe  trials 
through  which  their  young  republic  had  passed, 
the  efforts  that  had  been  made  to  disrupt  it, 
and  the  constant  harassment  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected  by  enemies  working  un- 
der the  cloak  of  friendship.  The  majority 
spoke  English,  but  such  as  knew  only  the 
Boer  taal  were  given  an  opportunity  by  their 


INTERVIEW   WITH   PRESIDENT   KRUGER 

more  fortunate  friends  to  add  to  the  testimony, 
and  spoke  through  an  interpreter.  Such  ear- 
nest, such  honest  conversation  it  had  never 
been  my  lot  to  hear  before.  It  was  a  memo- 
rable hour  that  I  spent  listening  to  the  plaints 
of  those  plain,  good-hearted  Boers  in  the  heart 
of  South  Africa.  It  was  the  voice  of  the 
downtrodden,  the  weak  crying  out  against  the 
strong. 

When  the  hour  of  my  appointment  with 
the  President  arrived  there  was  a  unanimous 
desire  among  the  Boers  gathered  around  to 
accompany  me.  It  was  finally  decided  by 
them  that  six  would  be  a  sufficient  number, 
and  among  those  chosen  were  Postmaster- 
General  Van  Alpen,  who  was  a  representative 
at  the  Postal  Congress  in  Washington  several 
years  ago;  Commissioner  of  Mines  P.  Kroeb- 
ler,  Commissioner  pf  War  J.  J.  Smidt,  Justice 
of  the  Peace  Dillingham,  and  former  Com- 
mandant-General Stephanne  Schoeman. 

When  our  party  reached  the  little  white- 
washed cottage  in  which  the  President  lives  a 
score  or  more  of  tall  and  soil-stained  farmers 
were  standing  in  a  circular  group  on  the  low 


140 


OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 


piazza.  They  were  laughing  hilariously  at 
something  that  had  been  said  by  a  shorter, 
fat  man  who  was  nearly  hidden  from  view  by 
the  surrounding  circle  of  patriarchs.  A  breach 
in  the  circle  disclosed  the  President  of  the 
republic  with  his  left  arm  on  the  shoulder  of 
a  long-whiskered  Boer,  and  his  right  hand 
swinging  lightly  in  the  hand  of  another  of 
his  countrymen.  It  was  democracy  in  its 
highest  exemplification. 

Catching  a  glimpse  of  us  as  we  were  en- 
tering on  the  lawn,  the  President  hastily  with- 
drew into  the  cottage.  The  Boers  he  de- 
serted seated  themselves  on  benches  and  chairs 
on  the  piazza,  relighted  their  pipes,  and  puffed 
contentedly,  without  paying  more  attention 
to  us  than  to  nod  to  several  of  my  compan- 
ions as  we  passed  them. 

The  front  door  of  the  gottage,  or  "  White 
House,"  as  they  call  it,  was  wide  open.  There 
was  no  flunkey  in  livery  to  take  our  cards, 
no  white-aproned  servant  girls  to  tra-la-la  our 
names.  The  executive  mansion  of  the  Presi- 
dent was  as  free  and  open  to  visitors  as  the 
farmhouse  of  the  humblest  burgher  of  the  re- 


INTERVIEW   WITH   PRESIDENT   KRUGER    141 

public.  In  their  efforts  to  display  their  quali- 
ties of  politeness  my  companions  urged  me 
into  the  President's  private  reception  room, 
while  they  lingered  for  a  short  time  at  the 
threshold.  The  President  rose  from  his  chair 
in  the  opposite  end,  met  me  in  the  centre 
of  the  room,  and  had  grasped  my  hand 
before  my  companions  had  an  opportunity 
of  going  through  the  process  of  an  intro- 
duction. 

There  was  less  formality  and  red  tape  in 
meeting  "  Oom  Paul  "  than  would  be  required 
to  have  a  word  with  Queen  Victoria's  butcher 
or  President  McKinley's  office-boy. 

While  Mr.  Kruger's  small  fat  hand  was  hold- 
ing mine  in  its  grasp  and  shaking  it  vehemently, 
he  spoke  something  in  Boer,  to  which  I  re- 
plied, "  Heel  goed,  danke,"  meaning  "  Very 
well,  I  thank  you."  Some  one  had  told  me 
that  he  would  first  ask  concerning  my  health, 
and  also  gave  me  the  formula  for  an  answer. 
The  President  laughed  heartily  at  my  reply, 
and  made  a  remark  in  Boer  "  taal."  The  in- 
terpreter came  up  in  the  meantime  and 
straightened  out  the  tangle  by  telling  me 


142  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

that  the  President's  first  question  had  been 
"  Have  you  any  English  blood  in  your  veins?  " 

The  President,  still  laughing  at  my  reply, 
seated  himself  in  a  big  armchair  at  the  head 
of  a  table  on  which  was  a  heavy  pipe  and  a 
large  tobacco  box.  He  filled  the  pipe,  lighted 
the  tobacco,  and  blew  great  clouds  of  smoke 
toward  the  ceiling.  My  companions  took 
turns  in  filling  their  pipes  from  the  President's 
tobacco  box,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  smoke 
was  so  dense  as  nearly  to  obscure  my  view  of 
the  persons  in  front  of  me. 

The  President  crossed  his  short,  thin  legs 
and  blew  quick,  spirited  puffs  of  smoke  while 
an  interpreter  translated  to  him  my  expres- 
sion of  the  admiration  which  the  American 
people  had  for  him,  and  how  well  known  the 
title  "  Oom  Paul  "  was  in  America.  This  de- 
lighted the  old  man  immeasurably.  His  big, 
fat  body  seemed  to  resolve  itself  into  waves 
which  started  in  his  shoes  and  gradually  worked 
upward  until  the  fat  rings  under  his  eyes  hid 
the  little  black  orbits  from  view.  Then  he 
slapped  his  knees  with  his  hands,  opened  his 
large  mouth,  and  roared  with  laughter. 


INTERVIEW   WITH    PRESIDENT   KRUGER    143 

It  was  almost  a  minute  before  he  regained 
his  composure  sufficiently  to  take  another  puff 
at  the  pipe  which  is  his  constant  companion. 
During  the  old  man's  fit  of  laughter  one  of 
my  companions  nudged  me  and  advised  me: 
"  Now  ask  him  anything  you  wish.  He  is  in 
better  humour  than  I  have  ever  seen  him 
before."  The  President  checked  a  second 
outburst  of  laughter  rather  suddenly  and 
asked,  "  Are  you  a  friend  of  Cecil  Rhodes? " 
If  there  is  any  one  whom  "  Oom  Paul " 
detests  it  is  the  great  colonizer.  The  Presi- 
dent invariably  asks  this  question  of  stran- 
gers, and  if  the  answer  is  an  affirmative 
one  he  refuses  to  continue  the  conversa- 
tion. 

Being  assured  that  such  was  not  the  case, 
Mr.  Kruger's  mind  appeared  to  be  greatly 
relieved — as  he  is  very  suspicious  of  all  strangers 
— and  he  asked  .another  question  which  is  in- 
dicative of  the  religious  side  of  his  nature: 
"  To  what  Church  do  you  belong?  "  A  speak- 
ing acquaintanceship  was  claimed  with  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  of  which  the  Presi- 
dent is  a  most  devout  member,  and  this  served 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

to  dissipate  all  suspicions  he  might  have  had 
concerning  me. 

The  interpreter  was  repeating  a  question 
to  him  when  the  President  suddenly  interrupted, 
as  is  frequently  his  custom  during  a  conver- 
sation, and  asked:  "  Do  the  American  people 
know  the  history  of  our  people?  I  will  tell 
you  truthfully  and  briefly.  You  have  heard 
the  English  version  always;  now  I  will  give 
you  ours." 

The  President  proceeded  slowly  and,  be- 
tween puffs  at  his  great  pipe,  spoke  deter- 
minedly: "  When  I  was  a  child  we  were  so  mal- 
treated by  the  English  in  Cape  Colony  that 
we  could  no  longer  bear  the  abuses  to  which 
we  were  subjected.  In  1835  we  migrated 
northward  with  our  cattle  and  possessions  and 
settled  in  Natal,  just  south  of  Zululand,  where 
by  unavoidable  fighting  we  acquired  territory 
from  the  Zulus.  We  had  hardly  settled  that 
country  and  established  ourselves  and  a  local 
form  of  government  when  our  old  enemies 
followed,  and  by  various  high-handed  methods 
made  life  so  unendurable  that  we  were  again 
compelled  to  move  our  families  and  posses- 


INTERVIEW   WITH    PRESIDENT   KRUGER    145 

sions.  This  time  we  travelled,  five  hundred 
miles  inland  over  the  trackless  veldt  and 
across  the  Vaal  River,  and  after  many  hard- 
ships and  trials  settled  in  the  Transvaal.  The 
country  was  so  poor,  so  uninviting,  that  the 
English  colonists  did  not  think  it  worth  their 
while  to  settle  in  the  land  which  we  had 
chosen  for  our  abiding-place. 

"  Our  people  increased  in  number,  and,  as 
the  years  passed,  established  a  form  of  govern- 
ment such  as  yours  in  America.  The  British 
thought  they  were  better  able  to  govern  us 
than  we  were  ourselves,  and  once  took  our 
country  from  us.  Their  defeats  at  Laing's 
Nek  and  Majuba  Hill  taught  them  that  we 
were  fighters,  and  they  gave  us  our  independ- 
ence and  allowed  us  to  live  peaceably  for  a 
number  of  years.  They  did  not  think  the 
country  valuable  enough  to  warrant  the  repe- 
tition of  the  fighting  for  it.  When  it  became 
known  all  over  the  world  twelve  years  ago  that 
the  most  extensive  gold  fields  on  the  globe 
had  been  discovered  in  our  apparently  worth- 
less country,  England  became  envious  and  laid 
plans  to  annex  such  a  valuable  prize.  Thou- 


146  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

sands  of  people  were  attracted  hither  by  our 
wonderful  gold  mines  at  Johannesburg,  and 
the  English  statesmen  renewed  their  attacks 
on  us.  They  made  all  sorts  of  pretexts  to 
rob  us  of  our  country,  and  when  they  could 
not  do  it  in  a  way  that  was  honest  and 
would  be  commended  by  other  nations,  they 
planned  the  Jameson  raid,  which  was  merely  a 
bold  attempt  to  steal  our  country." 

At  this  point  Kruger  paused  for  a  moment 
and  then  added,  "  You  Americans  know  how 
well  they  succeeded."  This  sally  amused  him 
and  my  companions  hugely,  and  they  all 
joined  in  hearty  laughter. 

The  President  declared  that  England's  at- 
titude toward  them  had  changed  completely 
since  the  discovery  of  the  gold  fields.  "  Up 
to  that  time  we  had  been  living  in  harmony 
with  every  one.  We  always  tried  to  be  peace- 
able and  to  prevent  strife  between  our  neigh- 
bours, but  we  have  been  continually  harassed 
since  the  natural  wealth  of  our  land  has  been 
uncovered." 

Here  he  relighted  his  pipe,  which  had 
grown  cold  while  he  was  detailing  the  history 


INTERVIEW  WITH   PRESIDENT    KRUGER    147 

of  the  Transvaal  Boers,  and  then  drew  a  par- 
able, which  is  one  of  his  distinguishing  traits: 
"  The  gold  fields  may  be  compared  to  a  pretty 
girl  who  is  young  and  wealthy.  You  all  ad- 
mire her  and  want  her  to  be  yours,  but  when 
she  rejects  you  your  anger  rises  and  you  want 
to  destroy  her."  By  implication  England  is 
the  rejected  suitor,  and  the  Transvaal  the  rich 
young  girl. 

Comparing  the  Boers'  conduct  in  South 
Africa  with  that  of  the  English,  the  President 
said:  "  Ever  since  we  left  Cape  Colony  in 
1835  we  have  not  taken  any  territory  from 
the  natives  by  conquest  except  that  of  one 
chief  whose  murderous  maraudings  compelled 
us  to  drive  him  away  from  his  country.  We 
bartered  and  bought  every  inch  of  land  we 
now  have.  England  has  taken  all  the  land 
she  has  in  South  Africa  at  the  muzzles  of  re- 
peating rifles  and  machine  guns.  That  is  the 
civilized  method  of  extending  the  bounds  of 
the  empire  they  talk  about  so  much." 

The  Englishmen's  plaint  is  that  the  re- 
public will  tax  them,  but  allow  them  no  repre- 
sentation in  the  affairs  of  government.  The 


I48  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

President  explained  his  side  in  this  manner: 
"  Every  man,  be  he  Englishman,  Chinaman,  or 
Eskimo,  can  become  a  naturalized  citizen  of 
our  country  and  have  all  the  privileges  of  a 
burgher  in  nine  years.  If  we  should  have  a 
war,  a  foreigner  can  become  a  citizen  in  a 
minute  if  he  will  fight  with  our  army.  The 
difficulty  with  the  Englishmen  here  is  that 
they  want  to  be  burghers  and  at  the  same 
time  retain  their  English  citizenship. 

"A  man  can  not  serve  two  masters;  either 
he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  or 
hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other.  We 
have  a  law  for  bigamy  in  our  country,  and  it 
is  necessary  to  dispose  of  an  old  love  before 
it  is  possible  to  marry  a  new." 

"  Oom  Paul  "  is  very  bitter  in  his  feeling 
against  the  English,  whom  he  calls  his  natural 
enemies,  but  it  is  seldom  that  he  says  anything 
against  them  except  in  private  to  his  most  inti- 
mate friends.  The  present  great  distress  in  the 
Johannesburg  gold  fields  is  attributed  by  the 
English  residents  to  the  high  protective  duties 
imposed  by  .the  Government  and  the  high 
freight  charges  for  the  transmission  of  ma- 


INTERVIEW   WITH    PRESIDENT    KRUGER    \^ 

chinery  and  coal.  Mr.  Kruger  explained  that 
those  taxes  were  less  than  in  the  other  colonies 
in  the  country. 

"  We  are  high  protectionists  because  ours 
is  a  young  country.  These  new  mines  have 
cost  the  Government  great  amounts  of  money, 
and  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  raise  as  much  as 
we  expend.  They  want  us  to  give  them  every- 
thing gratuitously,  so  that  we  may  become 
bankrupt  and  they  can  take  our  country  for 
the  debt.  If  they  don't  like  our  laws,  why 
don't  they  stay  away?  " 

Nowhere  in  the  world  is  the  American  Re- 
public admired  as  much  outside  of  its  own 
territory  as  in  South  Africa.  Both  the  Trans- 
vaal and  the  Orange  Free  State  Constitutions 
are  patterned  after  that  of  the  United  States, 
and  there  is  a  desire  lurking  in  the  breasts  of 
thousands  of  South  Africans  to  convert  the 
whole  of  the  country  south  of  the  Zambezi 
into  one  grand  United  States  of  South  Africa. 

Sir  Alfred  Milner,  the  Queen's  Commis- 
sioner to  South  Africa,  said  to  me  several 
days  before  I  saw  Mr.  Kruger  that  such  a 
thing  might  come  to  pass  within  the  next 


ISO 


OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 


twenty  years.  The  President  hesitated  when 
I  asked  him  if  he  favoured  such  a  proposition 
to  unite  all  the  colonies  and  republics  in  the 
country.  "  If  I  should  say  '  Yes/  the  Eng- 
lish would  declare  war  on  us  to-morrow."  He 
appeared  to  be  very  cautious  on  this  subject 
for  a  few  minutes,  but  after  a  consultation 
with  my  companions,  he  spoke  more  freely. 

"  We  admire  your  Government  very  much," 
he  said,  "  and  think  there  is  none  better  in 
the  world.  At  the  present  time  there  are  so 
many  conflicting  affairs  in  this  country  as  to 
make  the  discussion  of  an  amalgamation  in- 
advisable. A  republic  formed  on  the  principle 
of  the  United  States  would  be  most  advan- 
tageous to  all  concerned,  but  South  Africa  is 
not  yet  ripe  for  such  a  government.  I  shall 
not  live  to  see  it." 

According  to  those  around  him,  the  Presi- 
dent had  not  been  in  such  a  talkative  mood 
for  a  long  time,  and,  acting  upon  that  informa- 
tion, I  asked  him  to  tell  me  concerning  the 
Boers'  ability  to  defend  themselves  in  case  of 
war  with  England.  Many  successes  against 
British  arms  have  caused  the  Boers  to  regard 


INTERVIEW   WITH   PRESIDENT   KRUGER    151 

their  prowess  very  highly,  and  they  generally 
speak  of  themselves  as  well  able  to  protect 
their  country.  The  two  countries  have  been 
on  the  very  verge  of  war  several  times  during 
the  last  three  years,  and  it  was  only  through 
the  greatest  diplomacy  that  the  thousands  of 
English  soldiers  were  not  sent  over  the  bor- 
der of  the  Transvaal,  near  which  they  have 
been  stationed  ever  since  the  memorable  raid 
of  Jameson's  troopers. 

The  President's  reply  was  guarded:  "The 
English  say  they  can  starve  us  out  of  our 
country  by  placing  barriers  of  soldiers  along 
the  borders.  Starve  us  they  can,  if  it  is  the 
will  of  God  that  such  should  be  our  fate.  If 
God  is  on  our  side  they  can  build  a  big  wall 
around  us  and  we  can  still  live  and  flourish. 
We  don't  want  war.  My  wish  is  to  live  in 
peace  with  everybody." 

It  was  evident  that  the  subject  was  not 
pleasant  to  him,  and  he  requested  me  to  ask 
Commissioner  of  War  Smidt,  a  war-scarred 
hero  of  Majuba  Hill,  to  speak  to  me  on  the 
ability  of  the  Boers  to  take  care  of  themselves 
in  case  of  a  conflict. 


152 


OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


Commissioner  Smidt  became  very  enthusi- 
astic as  he  progressed  with  the  expression  of 
his  opinion,  and  the  President  frequently 
nodded  assent  to  what  the  head  of  the  War 
Department  said. 

"  It  is  contrary  to  our  national  feeling  to 
engage  in  war,"  said  Mr.  Smidt,  "  and  we  will 
do  all  in  our  power  to  avert  strife.  If,  how- 
ever, we  are  forced  into  fighting,  we  must  de- 
fend ourselves  as  best  we  are  able.  There  is 
not  one  Boer  in  the  Transvaal  who  will  not 
fight  until  death  for  his  country.  We  have 
demonstrated  our  ability  several  times,  and 
we  shall  try  to  retain  our  reputation.  The 
English  must  fight  us  in  our  own  country, 
where  we  know  every  rock,  every  valley,  and 
every  hill.  They  fight  at  a  disadvantage  in  a 
country  which  they  do  not  know  and  in  a 
climate  to  which  they  are  strangers. 

"  The  Boers  are  born  sharpshooters,  and 
from  infancy  are  taught  to  put  a  bullet  in  a 
buzzard's  skull  at  a  hundred  yards.  One  Boer 
is  equal  in  a  war  in  our  own  country  to  five 
Englishmen,  and  that  has  been  proved  a  num- 
ber of  times.  We  have  rugged  constitutions, 


INTERVIEW   WITH    PRESIDENT    KRUGER 


153 


are  accustomed  to  an  outdoor  life,  and  can 
live  on  a  piece  of  biltong  for  days,  while  the 
Queen's  soldiers  have  none  of  these  advantages. 

"  They  can  not  starve  us  out  in  fifty  years, 
for  we  have  sources  of  provender  of  which 
they  can  not  deprive  us.  We  have  fortifica- 
tions around  Pretoria  that  make  it  an  impos- 
sibility for  any  army  of  less  than  fifty  thou- 
sand men  to  take,  and  the  ammunition  we  have 
on  hand  is  sufficient  for  a  three  years'  war. 
We  are  not  afraid  of  the  English  in  Africa, 
and  not  until  every  Boer  in  the  Transvaal  is 
killed  will  we  stop  fighting  if  they  ever  begin. 
Should  war  come,  and  I  pray  that  it  will  not, 
the  Boers  will  march  through  English  terri- 
tory to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or  be  erased 
from  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Never  was  a  man  more  sincere  in  his 
statements  than  the  commissioner,  and  his 
companions  supported  his  every  sentence  by 
look  and  gesture.  Even  the  President  gave 
silent  approval  to  the  sentiments  expressed. 

"  Have  you  ever  had  any  intention  6f  se- 
curing Delagoa  Bay  from  the  Portuguese,  in 
order  that  you  might  have  a  seacoast,  as  has 


!54  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

been  rumoured  many  times? "  I  asked  the 
President.  Delagoa  Bay,  the  finest  harbour  in 
Africa,  is  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Transvaal, 
and  might  be  of  great  service  to  it  in  the 
event  of  war. 

"  '  Cursed  be  he  who  removes  the  landmarks 
of  his  neighbour,'  "  quoted  he.  "  I  never  want 
to  do  anything  that  would  bring  the  venge- 
ance of  God  on  me.  We  want  our  country, 
nothing  more,  nothing  less." 

Asked  to  give  an  explanation  of  the  causes 
of  the  troubles  between  England  and  the 
Transvaal,  he  said: 

"  Mr.  Rhodes  is  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles 
between  our  country  and  England.  He  de- 
sires to  form  all  the  country  south  of  the  Zam- 
bezi River  into  a  United  States  of  South 
Africa,  and  before  he  can  do  this  he  must 
have  possession  of  the  Transvaal  and  the 
Orange  Free  State.  His  aim  in  life  is  to  be 
President  of  the  United  States  of  South  Africa. 
He  initiated  the  Jameson  raid,  and  he  has 
stirred  up  the  spirit  of  discontent  which  is  be- 
ing shown  by  the  Englishmen  in  the  Trans- 
vaal. Our  Government  endeavours  to  treat 


INTERVIEW  WITH    PRESIDENT   KRUGER 


155 


every  one  with  like  favour,  but  these  English- 
men are  never  satisfied  with  anything  we  do. 
They  want  the  English  flag  to  wave  over  the 
Transvaal  territory,  and  nothing  less.  Rhodes 
spent  millions  of  pounds  in  efforts  to  steal 
our  country,  and  will  probably  spend  millions 
more.  But  we  will  never  leave  this  land,  which 
we  found,  settled,  and  protected." 

Then,  rising  from  his  chair  and  raising  his 
voice,  he  continued  slowly  and  deliberately: 

"  We  will  fight  until  not  one  Boer  remains 
to  defend  our  flag  and  country;  our  women 
and  children  will  fight  for  their  liberties;  and 
even  I,  an  old  man,  will  take  the  gun  which  I 
have  used  against  them  twice  before  and  use 
it  again  to  defend  the  country  I  love.  But 
I  hope  there  will  be  no  war.  I  want  none 
and  the  Boers  want  none.  If  war  comes,  we 
shall  not  be  to  blame.  I  have  done  all  in 
my  power  for  peace,  and  have  taken  many  in- 
sults from  Englishmen  merely  that  my  people 
might  not  be  plunged  into  war.  I  want  no 
war.  I  hope  that  I  may  spend  the  rest  of  my 
days  in  peace." 

The    President's    carriage    had    arrived    in 


156  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

front  of  the  cottage  to  convey  him  to  the 
Government  Building,  and  the  time  had  ar- 
rived for  him  to  appear  before  one  of  the  Volks- 
raads.  He  displayed  no  eagerness  to  end  the 
interview,  and  continued  it  by  asking  me  to 
describe  the  personality  and  ability  of  Presi- 
dent McKinley.  He  expressed  his  admiration 
of  former  President  Cleveland,  with  whose  De- 
partment of  State  he  had  some  dealings  while 
John  Hays  Hammond  was  confined  in  the 
Pretoria  prison  for  complicity  in  the  Jameson 
raid. 

His  opinion  of  the  Americans  in  South 
Africa  was  characteristic  of  the  man.  "  I  like 
and  trust  true  Americans.  They  are  a  mag- 
nificent people,  because  they  favour  justice. 
When  those  in  our  country  are  untainted  with 
English  ideas  I  trust  them  implicitly,  but 
there  were  a  number  of  them  here  in  Jame- 
son's time  who  were  Americans  in  name 
only." 

He  hesitated  to  send  any  message  to  the 
sister  republic  in  America,  lest  his  English  ene- 
mies might  construe  it  to  mean  that  he  cur- 
ried America's  favour.  His  friends  finally  per- 


INTERVIEW   WITH    PRESIDENT   KRUGER 


157 


suaded  him  to  make  a  statement,  and  he  dic- 
tated this  expression  of  good  fellowship  and 
respect : 

"  So  long  as  the  different  sections  of  the 
United  States  live  in  peace  and  harmony,  so 
long  will  they  be  happy  and  prosperous.  My 
wish  is  that  the  great  republic  in  America 
may  become  the  greatest  nation  on  earth,  and 
that  she  may  continue  to  act  as  the  great 
peace  nation.  I  wish  that  prosperity  may  be 
hers  and  her  people's,  and  in  my  daily  prayers 
I  ask  that  God  may  protect  her  and  bless  her 
bounteously." 

It  being  far  past  the  time  for  his  appear- 
ance at  the  Government  Building,  the  Presi- 
dent ended  the  interview  abruptly.  He  re- 
filled his  pipe,  bade  farewell  to  us,  and  bustled 
from  the  room  with  all  the  vigour  of  a  young 
man.  On  the  piazza  he  met  his  little,  silver- 
haired  wife,  who,  with  a  half-knit  stocking 
pendant  from  her  fingers,  was  conversing  with 
the  countrymen  sitting  on  the  benches.  The 
President  bent  down  and  kissed  her  affec- 
tionately, then  jumped  into  the  carriage 
and  was  rapidly  conveyed  to  the  Govern- 


158  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ment  Building.  When  the  dust  obscured 
the  carriage  and  the  cavalrymen  attending  it, 
one  of  my  companions  turned  to  me  and  re- 
marked : 

"Ah!  there  goes  a  great  man!" 


(J 


CHAPTER  VII 

CECIL   JOHN    RHODES 

SIXTEEN  years  ago  Cecil  J.  Rhodes,  then 
a  man  of  small  means  and  no  political  record, 
stood  in  a  small  Kimberley  shop  and  looked  for 
a  long  time  at  a  map  of  Africa  which  hung  on 
the  wall.  An  acquaintance  who  had  watched 
him  for  several  minutes  stepped  up  to  Rhodes 
and  asked  whether  he  was  attempting  to  find 
the  location  of  Kimberley.  Mr.  Rhodes  made 
no  reply  for  several  seconds,  then  placed  his 
right  hand  over  the  map,  and  covered  a  large 
part  of  South  and  Central  Africa  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Indian  Ocean.  "  All  that  Brit- 
ish! "  he  said.  "  That  is  my  dream." 

"  I  will  give  you  ten  years  to  realize  it," 
replied  the  friend. 

"  Give  me  ten  more,"  said  Rhodes,  "  and 
then  we'll  have  a  new  map." 

Three    fourths    of    the    required    time    has 

159 


l6o  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

elapsed,  and  the  full  realization  of  Rhodes's 
dream  must  take  place  within  the  next  four 
years.  There  remain  only  two  small  spaces  on 
that  part  of  the  map  which  was  covered  by 
Rhodes's  hand  that  are  not  British,  and  those 
are  the  Orange  Free  State  and  the  South 
African  Republic.  Mr.  Rhodes's  success  will 
come  hand-in-hand  with  the  death  of  the  two 
republics.  The  life  of  the  republics  hinges  on 
his  failure,  and  good  fortune  has  rarely  de- 
serted him. 

Twenty-seven  years  ago  Cecil  Rhodes,  then 
a  tall,  thin  college  lad,  was  directed  by  his  phy- 
sician to  go  to  South  Africa  if  he  wished  to  live 
more  than  three  years.  He  and  his  brother 
Herbert,  the  sons  of  the  poor  rector  of  Bishop 
Stortford,  sailed  for  Durban,  Natal,  and  reached 
that  port  while  the  diamond  fever  was  at  its 
height  at  Kimberley.  The  two  boys,  each  less 
than  nineteen  years  old,  joined  a  party  of  ad- 
venturers and  prospectors,  and,  after  many 
vicissitudes,  reached  the  Kimberley  fields  safely, 
but  with  little  or  no  money.  The  boys  were 
energetic,  and  found  opportunities  for  making 
money  where  others  could  see  none. 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  ifa 

The  camp  was  composed  of  the  roughest 
characters  in  South  Africa,  all  of  whom  had 
flocked  thither  when  the  discovery  of  diamonds 
was  first  announced.  Illicit  diamond  buying 
was  the  easiest  path  to  wealth,  and  was  trav- 
elled by  almost  every  millionaire  whose  name 
has  been  connected  with  recent  South  African 
affairs.  Mr.  Rhodes  is  one  of  the  few  excep- 
tions, and  even  his  enemies  corroborate  the 
statement. 

"  You  don't  steal  diamonds,"  said  Barney 
Barnato  to  Mr.  Rhodes  fifteen  years  ago,  "  but 
you  must  prove  it  when  accused.  I  steal  them, 
but  my  enemies  must  prove  it.  That's  the  dif- 
ference between  us." 

The  youthful  Rhodes  engaged  in  many 
legitimate  schemes  for  making  money,  and 
saved  almost  all  that  he  secured.  For  a  short 
time  he  pumped  water  out  of  mines,  using  an 
abandoned  engine  for  the  purpose,  and  then 
embarked  in  commercial  enterprises.  After 
spending  two  or  three  years  in  the  fields,  he 
returned  to  England  and  resumed  his  course 
at  Oxford.  In  connection  with  this  visit  to 
England,  Mr.  Rhodes  relates  the  story  of  the 


1 62  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

meeting  with  the  physician  who  several  years 
before  had  placed  the  limit  of  his  existence  at 
three  years. 

"  You  the  same  Rhodes? "  asked  the  dis- 
comfited doctor  when  he  saw  the  healthy  young 
man.  "  According  to  my  books,  you  have 
been  in  your  grave  some  time.  Here  is  the 
entry:  'Tuberculosis;  recovery  impossible.' 
You  can't  be  the  same  Rhodes,  sir.  Impos- 
sible!" 

At  the  end  of  each  term  at  Oxford  Mr. 
Rhodes  returned  to  Kimberley,  and,  by  judi- 
ciously investing  his  savings  in  mining  claims, 
soon  became  a  power  in  the  affairs  of  the  dia- 
mond fields.  When  the  diamond  fever  was 
followed  by  the  usual  reaction,  and  evil  days 
fell  upon  the  industry,  Mr.  Rhodes  secured  all 
the  shares,  claims,  and  lands  that  his  thousands 
would  buy.  Then  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  a  monopoly  of  the  diamond  industry 
by  consolidating  all  the  mines  and  limiting  the 
output. 

Lacking  the  money  wherewith  to  buy  the 
valuable  properties  necessary  for  his  plans,  he 
went  to  the  Rothschilds  and  asked  for  finan- 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  163 

cial  assistance.  The  scheme  was  extraordinary, 
and  required  such  a  large  amount  of  money 
that  the  request,  coming  from  such  a  young 
man  as  Mr.  Rhodes  was  then,  staggered  the 
Rothschilds,  and  they  asked  him  to  call  several 
days  later  for  an  answer. 

"  My  time  is  valuable,"  remarked  Mr. 
Rhodes,  rather  haughtily.  "  I  will  come  again 
in  an  hour  for  your  answer.  If  you  have  not 
decided  by  that  time,  I  shall  seek  assistance 
elsewhere." 

The  Rothschilds  sent  Mr.  Rhodes  back  to 
Africa  with  the  necessary  amount  of  money  to 
purchase  the  other  claims  and  property  in  the 
Kimberley  district,  and,  after  he  had  formed 
the  great  De  Beers  Company,  appointed  him 
managing  director  for  life  at  a  salary  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
Under  Mr.  Rhodes's  management  the  De  Beers 
consolidated  mines  have  been  earning  annual 
dividends  of  almost  fifty  per  cent.,  and  more 
than  four  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of 
diamonds  have  been  placed  on  the  market. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Suez  Canal,  the  mines 
are  the  best  paying  property  in  the  world,  and 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

much  of  their  success  is  due  to  the  personal 
efforts  of  Mr.  Rhodes. 

It  was  while  he  was  engineering  the  con- 
solidation of  the  diamond  mines  that  Mr. 
Rhodes  began  his  political  career.  He  realized 
that  his  political  success  was  founded  on  per- 
sonal popularity,  and  more  firmly  so  in  a  new 
country,  where  the  political  elements  were  of 
such  a  diversified  character  as  are  usually  pres- 
ent in  a  mining  community.  In  the  early 
days  of  the  Kimberley  fields  the  extent  of  a 
man's  popularity  depended  upon  the  amount 
of  money  he  spent  in  wining  those  around 
him.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  astute  enough  to  ap- 
preciate the  secret  of  popularity,  and,  having 
gained  it,  allowed  himself  to  be  named  as  can- 
didate for  the  Cape  Colony  Parliament  from 
the  Kimberley  district. 

By  carefully  currying  the  favour  of  the 
Dutch  inhabitants,  who  were  not  on  the  friend- 
liest political  terms  with  the  English  colonists, 
he  was  elected.  Thereafter  Mr.  Rhodes's  po- 
litical star  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  he  was 
elected  successively  to  the  highest  office  in  the 
colony's  government. 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  165 

At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  he  was  Treas- 
urer-General of  Cape  Colony,  and  it  was  while 
he  filled  that  office  that  Chinese  Gordon  ap- 
peared at  the  Cape  and  appealed  to  Mr.  Rhodes 
to  join  the  expedition  to  Khartoum.  Mr. 
Rhodes  was  undecided  whether  to  resign  the 
treasurer-generalship  and  accompany  Gordon 
or  to  remain  in  South  Africa,  but  finally  deter- 
mined to  stay  in  the  colony.  Gordon,  who 
had  taken  a  great  fancy  to  the  young  and  en- 
ergetic colonist,  was  sorely  disappointed,  and 
went  to  Khartoum,  where  he  was  killed. 

During  the  years  he  held  minor  Govern- 
ment offices  Mr.  Rhodes  formed  the  alliances 
which  were  the  foundation  of  his  later  politi- 
cal success.  He  was  a  friend  at  the  same  time 
of  the  Englishman,  the  Afrikander,  the  Dutch- 
man, and  the  Boer,  and  he  was  always  in  a 
position  where  he  could  reciprocate  the  favours 
of  one  class  without  incurring  the  enmity  of 
another.  He  worked  with  the  Dutchmen  when 
protection  was  the  political  cry,  and  with  the 
Englishmen  when  subjects  dear  to  them  were 
in  the  foreground.  He  never  abused  his  op- 
ponents in  political  arguments,  as  the  major- 


12 


1 66  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ity  of  Cape  politicians  do,  but  he  pleaded 
with  them  on  the  veldt  and  at  their  firesides.  • 

When  he  was  unable  to  swerve  a  man's 
opinions  by  words,  he  has  frequently  been 
charged  with  having  applied  the  more  seduc- 
tive method  of  using  money.  Mr.  Rhodes  is 
said  to  be  a  firm  believer  in  money  as  a  force 
superior  to  all  others,  and  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  acknowledge  his  belief  that  every  man's 
opinions  can  be  shaped  by  the  application  of 
a  necessary  amount  of  money.  This  belief  he 
formed  in  the  early  days  of  the  diamond  fields, 
and  it  has  remained  with  him  ever  since. 

"  Find  the  man's  price  "  was  Mr.  Rhodes's 
formula  for  success  before  he  reached  the  age 
of  thirty,  and  his  political  enemies  declare  it 
has  given  him  the  power  he  desired.  In  a 
country  which  had  such  a  large  roving  and 
reckless  population  as  South  Africa  it  was  not 
difficult  for  a  politician  with  a  motto  similar  to 
that  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  to  become  influential  at 
election  periods,  nor  did  it  require  many  years 
to  establish  a  party  that  would  support  him 
on  whatever  grounds  he  chose  to  take. 

It    was    with    such    a    following    that    Mr. 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  167 

Rhodes  commenced  his  higher  political  career 
'in  Cape  Colony.  When,  in  1884,  he  became 
Commissioner  of  Bechuanaland,  the  vast  and 
then  undeveloped  country  adjoining  the  colony 
on  the  north,  and  made  his  first  plans  for  the 
annexation  of  that  territory  to  the  British  Em- 
pire, he  received  the  support  of  the  majority 
of  the  voters  of  the  colony.  His  first  plan  of 
securing  control  of  the  territory  was  not  fa- 
vourably received  by  the  Colonial  Office  in  Lon- 
don, and  no  sooner  was  it  pronounced  vision- 
ary than  he  suggested  another  more  feasible. 

Bechuanaland  was  then  ruled  by  a  mighty 
native  chief,  Lobengula,  whose  vast  armies 
roved  over  the  country  and  prevented  white 
travellers  and  prospectors  from  crossing  the 
bounds  of  his  territory.  In  the  minds  of  the 
white  people  of  South  Africa,  Bechuanaland 
figured  as  a  veritable  Golconda — a  land  where 
precious  stones  and  minerals  could  be  secured 
without  any  attendant  labour,  where  the  soil 
was  so  rich  as  to  yield  four  bounteous  harvests 
every  year. 

Mr.  Rhodes  determined  to  break  the  bar- 
riers which  excluded  white  men  from  the  na- 


1 68  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

tive  chief's  domain,  and  sent  three  agents  to 
treat  with  Lobengula.  The  agents  made  many 
valuable  presents  to  the  old  chief,  and  in  1888, 
after  much  engineering,  secured  from  him  an 
exclusive  concession  to  search  for  and  extract 
minerals  in  Bechuanaland.  The  payment  for 
the  concession  included  five  hundred  dollars  a 
month,  a  thousand  rifles  and  ammunition,  and 
a  small  gunboat  on  the  Zambezi. 

After  Mr.  Rhodes  discovered  the  real  value 
of  the  concession,  he  and  a  number  of  his 
friends  formed  the  British  South  Africa  Com- 
pany, popularly  known  as  the  Chartered  Com- 
pany, and  received  a  charter  from  the  British 
Government,  which  gave  to  them  the  exclusive 
right  of  governing,  developing,  and  trading 
in  Lobengula's  country.  Several  years  after- 
ward the  white  man's  government  became  irk- 
some to  Lobengula  and  his  tribes,  as  well  as 
to  the  Mashonas,  who  occupied  the  immense 
territory  adjoining  Bechuanaland  on  the  east, 
and  all  rebelled.  The  result  was  not  unlike 
those  of  native  rebellions  in  other  countries. 
The  natives  were  shot  down  by  trained  English 
soldiers,  their  country  was  taken  from  them, 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  169 

and  those  who  escaped  death  or  captivity  were 
compelled  to  fly  for  safety  to  the  new  countries 
of  the  north. 

The  British  South  Africa  Company  in  1895 
practically  became  the  sole  owner  of  Rhodesia, 
the  great  territory  taken  from  Lobengula  and 
the  Mashonas;  and  Mr.  Rhodes,  having  realized 
part  of  his  dream,  began  casting  about  for  other 
opportunities  whereby  he  might  extend  the 
empire. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
glory.  He  was  many  times  a  millionaire,  the 
head  of  one  of  the  greatest  capitalistic  enter- 
prises in  the  world,  the  director  of  the  affairs 
of  a  dominion  occupying  one  tenth  of  a  con- 
tinent, and  the  Premier  of  Cape  Colony.  His 
power  was  almost  absolute  over  a  territory  that 
stretches  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  into 
Central  Africa,  and  then  eastward  to  within  a 
'  few  miles  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  He  had  armies 
under  his  command,  and  two  governments 
were  at  his  beck  and  call. 

But  Mr.  Rhodes  was  not  satisfied.  He 
looked  again  at  the  map  of  Africa,  already 
greatly  changed  since  he  placed  his  hand  over 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

it  in  the  Kimberley  shop,  but  the  dream  was 
not  realized.  He  saw  the  Transvaal  and  the 
Orange  Free  State  flags  still  occupying  the 
positions  he  had  marked  for  the  British  em- 
blem, and  he  plotted  for  their  acquisition. 

The  strife  between  the  Boers  and  the  Uit- 
landers  in  the  Transvaal  was  then  at  its  height, 
and  Mr.  Rhodes  recognised  the  opportunity 
for  the  intervention  of  England  that  it  afforded. 
Mr.  Rhodes  did  not  consider  it  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  inquire  concerning  the  justice  of 
the  Uitlanders'  claims,  nor  did  he  express  any 
sympathy  for  their  cause.  In  fact,  if  anything, 
he  felt  that  if  the  Uitlanders  were  unjustly 
treated  by  the  Boers  their  remedy  was  simple. 
Once  he  blandly  told  a  complaining  Uitlander 
that  no  Chinese  wall  surrounded  the  Trans- 
vaal, and  that  to  escape  from  the  alleged  injus- 
tice was  comparatively  easy. 

To  Mr.  Rhodes  the  end  was  sufficient  ex- 
cuse for  the  means,  and,  if  the  acquisition  of 
the  two  republics  carried  with  it  the  loss  of  his 
Boer  friends,  he  was  willing  to  accept  the  situ- 
ation. The  fall  of  the  Transvaal  Republic  car- 
ried with  it  the  subsequent  fall  of  the  Orange 


CECIL  JOHN    RHODES  171 

Free  State,  and,  in  order  that  he  might  strike 
at  the  head,  he  determined  to  commence  his 
campaign  of  exterminating  republics  by  first 
attacking  the  Transvaal. 

Whether  he  had  the  promise  of  assistance 
from  the  Colonial  Office  in  London  is  a  sub- 
ject upon  which  even  the  principals  differ. 
Mr.  Rhodes  felt  that  his  power  in  the  country 
was  great  enough  to  make  the  attack  upon 
the  Transvaal  without  assistance  from  the  home 
Government,  and  the  plot  of  the  Jameson  raid 
was  formed. 

He  retired  to  Groote  Schuur,  his  home  at 
Cape  Town,  and  awaited  the  fruition  of  the 
plans  he  had  so  carefully  made  and  explained. 
His  lieutenants  might  have  been  overhasty,  or 
perhaps  the  Uitlanders  in  Johannesburg  might 
have  feared  the  Boer  guns  too  much;  what- 
ever the  reason,  the  plans  miscarried,  and  Mr. 
Rhodes  experienced  the  first  and  greatest  re- 
verse in  his  brilliant  public  career. 

The  dream  which  appeared  so  near  realiza- 
tion one  day  was  dissolved  the  next,  and  with 
it  the  reputation  of  the  dreamer.  He  was 
obliged  to  resign  the  premiership  of  Cape  Col- 


172  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

ony,  many  of  his  best  and  oldest  supporters  in 
England  deserted  him,  and  he  lost  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  the  Dutch  inhabitants  of  South 
Africa,  who  had  always  been  among  his  stanch- 
est  allies.  The  heroic  Rhodes,  the  idol  of  Cape 
Colony,  found  himself  the  object  of  attack  and 
ridicule  of  the  majority  of  the  voters  of  the 
colony.  The  parliamentary  inquiry  acquitted 
him  of  all  complicity  in  the  Jameson  raid,  it  is 
true,  but  the  Dutch  people  of  South  Africa 
never  have  and  never  will. 

The  Jameson  raid  was  a  mere  incident  in 
Mr.  Rhodes's  career;  he  would  probably  call  it 
an  accident.  Having  failed  to  overthrow  the 
Transvaal  Republic  by  means  of  an  armed 
revolution,  he  attempted  to  accomplish  the 
same  object  by  means  of  a  commercial  revo- 
lution. Rhodesia,  the  new  country  which  had 
a  short  time  previously  been  taken  from  the 
Matabeles  and  the  Mashonas,  was  proclaimed 
by  Mr.  Rhodes  to  be  a  paradise  for  settlers  and 
an  Ophir  for  prospectors.  He  personally  con- 
ducted the  campaign  to  rob  the  Transvaal  of 
its  inhabitants  and  its  commerce;  but  the  golden 
promises,  the  magnificent  farms,  the  Solomon's 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  ^3 

mines,  the  new  railways,  and  the  new  telegraph 
lines  all  failed  to  attract  the  coveted  prizes  to 
the  land  which,  after  all,  was  found  to  be  void 
of  real  merit  except  as  a  hunting  ground  where 
the  so-called  British  poor-house,  the  army, 
might  pot  negroes. 

Mr.  Rhodes  spent  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  in  developing  the  country  which 
bears  his  name,  and  the  British  South  Africa 
Company  added  thousands  more,  but  the  hand 
which  was  wont  to  turn  into  gold  all  that  it 
touched  had  lost  its  cunning.  To  add  to  Mr. 
Rhodes's  perplexities,  the  natives  who  had  been 
conquered  by  Dr.  Jameson  learned  that  their 
conqueror  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Boers,  and  rose  in  another  rebellion  against 
English  authority.  Mr.  Rhodes  and  one  of 
his  sisters  journeyed  alone  into  the  enemy's 
stronghold  and  made  terms  with  Lobengu- 
la,  whereby  the  revolution  was  practically 
ended. 

After  the  Rhodesian  country  had  been  paci- 
fied, and  he  had  placed  the  routine  work  of 
the  campaign  to  secure  settlers  for  the  country 
in  the  hands  of  his  lieutenants,  Mr.  Rhodes  bent 


PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

all  his  energies  toward  the  completion  of  the 
transcontinental  railway  and  telegraph  lines 
which  had  been  started  under  his  auspices  sev- 
eral years  before,  but  had  been  allowed  to  lag 
on  account  of  the  pressure  of  weightier  mat- 
ters. The  Cape  Town  to  Cairo  railroad  and  tele- 
graph are  undertakings  of  such  vast  propor- 
tions and  importance  that  Mr.  Rhodes's  fame 
might  easily  have  been  secured  through  them 
alone  had  he  never  been  heard  of  in  connec- 
tion with  other  great  enterprises. 

He  himself  originated  the  plans  by  which 
the  Mediterranean  and  Table  Bay  will  eventual- 
ly be  united  by  bands  of  steel  and  strands  of 
copper,  and  it  is  through  his  own  personal  ef- 
forts that  the  English  financiers  are  being  in- 
duced to  subscribe  the  money  with  which  his 
plans  are  being  carried  out.  The  marvellous 
faith  which  the  English  people  have  in  Mr. 
Rhodes  has  been  illustrated  on  several  occa- 
sions when  he  was  called  to  London  to  meet 
storms  of  protests  from  shareholders,  who 
feared  that  the  two  great  enterprises  were 
gigantic  fiascos.  He  has  invariably  returned  to 
South  Africa  with  the  renewed  confidence  of 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  175 

the  timid  ones  and  many  millions  of  additional 
capital. 

Mr.  Rhodes  has  tasted  of  the  power  which 
is  absolute,  and  he  will  brook  no  earthly  inter- 
ference with  his  plans.  The  natives  may  de- 
stroy hundreds  of  miles  of  the  telegraph  lines, 
as  they  have  done  on  several  occasions.  He 
teaches  them  a  lesson  by  means  of  the  quick- 
firing  gun,  and  rebuilds  the  line.  White  men 
may  fear  the  deadly  fever  of  Central  Africa,  but 
princely  salaries  and  life-insurance  policies  for 
a  host  of  relatives  will  always  attract  men  to 
take  the  risk.  Shareholders  may  rebel  at  the 
expenditures,  but  Mr.  Rhodes  will  indicate  to 
them  that  their  other  properties  will  be  ruined 
if  they  withdraw  their  support  from  the  railway 
and  telegraph. 

A  strip  of  territory  belonging  to  another 
nation  may  be  an  impediment  to  the  line,  but 
an  interview  with  the  Emperor  of  Germany  or 
the  King  of  Portugal  will  be  all-sufficient  for 
the  accomplishment  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  purpose. 
Providence  may  swerve  him  in  his  purpose 
many  times,  but  nations  and  individuals  rarely. 

All  South  Africans  agree  that  Mr.  Rhodes 


i;6  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

is  the  most  remarkable  Englishman  that  ever 
figured  in  the  history  of  the  African  continent. 
Some  will  go  further  and  declare  that  he  has 
done  more  for  the  British  Empire  than  any 
one  man  in  history.  No  two  South  Africans 
will  agree  on  the  methods  by  which  Mr.  Rhodes 
attained  his  position  in  the  affairs  of  the  coun- 
try. Some  say  that  he  owes  his  success  to  his 
great  wealth;  others  declare  that  his  personal 
magnetism  is  responsible  for  all  that  he  ever 
attained.  His  enemies  intimate  that  political 
chicanery  is  the  foundation  of  his  progress,  while 
his  friends  resent  the  intimation  and  laud  his 
sterling  honesty  as  the  basis  of  his  successful 
career. 

No  one  has  ever  accused  him  of  being  the 
fortunate  victim  of  circumstances  which  car- 
ried him  to  the  pre-eminent  rank  he  occupies 
among  Englishmen,  although  such  an  opinion 
might  readily  be  formed  from  a  personal  study 
of  the  man.  South  Africa  is  the  indolent 
man's  paradise,  and  of  that  garden  of  physi- 
cal inactivity  Mr.  Rhodes,  by  virtue  of  his 
pre-eminent  qualifications,  is  king.  "  Almost 
as  lazy  as  Rhodes "  is  a  South  Africanism 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  177 

that  has  caused  lifelong  enmities  and  rivers  of 
blood. 

He  takes  pride  in  his  indolence,  and  de- 
clares that  the  man  who  performs  more  labour 
than  his  physical  needs  demand  is  a  fool.  He 
says  he  never  makes  a  long  speech  because  he 
is  too  lazy  to  expend  the  energy  necessary  for 
its  delivery.  He  declines  to  walk  more  than 
an  eighth  of  a  mile  unless  it  is  impossible  to 
secure  a  vehicle  or  native  hammock-bearers  to 
convey  him,  and  then  he  proceeds  so  slowly 
that  his  progress  is  almost  imperceptible.  His 
indolence  may  be  the  result  of  the  same  line 
of  reasoning  as  that  indulged  in  by  the  cau- 
tious man  who  carries  an  umbrella  when  the 
sun  shines,  in  which  case  every  one  who  has 
travelled  in  the  tropics  will  agree  that  Mr. 
Rhodes  is  a  modern  Solomon.  The  only  ex- 
ercise he  indulges  in  is  an  hour's  canter  on 
horseback  in  the  early  morning,  before  the  gen- 
erous rays  of  the  African  sun  appear. 

Notwithstanding  his  antipathy  to  physical 
exertion,  Mr.  Rhodes  is  a  great  traveller,  and 
is  constantly  moving  from  one  place  to  an- 
other. One  week  may  find  him  at  Groote 


178  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Schuur,  his  Cape  Town  residence,  while  the 
following  week  he  may  be  planning  a  new  farm 
in  far-away  Mashonaland.  The  third  week  may 
have  him  in  the  Portuguese  possessions  on  the 
east  coast,  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  he  may 
be  back  in  Cape  Town,  prepared  for  a  voyage 
to  England  and  a  fortnight's  stay  in  Paris.  He 
will  charter  a  bullock  team  or  a  steamship  with 
like  disregard  of  expense  in  order  that  he  may 
reach  his  destination  at  a  specified  time,  and 
in  like  manner  he  will  be  watchful  of  his  com- 
fort by  causing  houses  to  be  built  in  unfre- 
quented territory  which  he  may  wish  to  inves- 
tigate. 

So  wealthy  that  he  could  almost  double  his 
fortune  in  the  time  it  would  require  to  count 
it,  Mr.  Rhodes  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine 
that  money  was  created  for  the  purpose  of  being 
spent,  and  never  hesitates  to  put  it  into  prac- 
tice. He  does  not  assist  beggars,  nor  does  he 
squander  sixpence  in  a  year,  but  he  will  pay 
the  expenses  of  a  trip  to  Europe  for  a  man 
whom  he  wishes  to  reconcile,  and  will  donate 
the  value  of  a  thousand-acre  farm  to  a  tribe  of 
natives  which  has  pleased  him  by  its  actions. 


CECIL  JOHN    RHODES  179 

His  generosity  is  best  illustrated  by  a  story 
told  by  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  in 
Kimberley.  Several  years  before  Barney  Bar- 
nato's  death,  that  not-too-honest  speculator  in- 
duced almost  all  of  the  employees  of  the  dia- 
mond mines  to  invest  their  savings  in  the  stock 
of  the  Pleiades  gold  mine  in  Johannesburg, 
which  Barnato  and  his  friends  were  attempting 
to  manipulate.  The  attempt  was  unsuccessful, 
and  the  diamond  miners  lost  all  the  money  they 
had  invested.  Mr.  Rhodes  heard  of  Barnato's 
deceit,  and  asked  him  to  refund  the  money, 
but  was  laughed  at.  Mr.  Rhodes  learned  the 
total  amount  of  the  losses — about  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars — and  paid  the  money  out  of 
his  own  pocket. 

Although  he  has  more  financial  patronage 
at  his  command  than  almost  any  banking  house 
in  existence,  Mr.  Rhodes  rarely  has  sufficient 
money  in  his  purse  to  buy  lunch.  His  valet, 
a  half-breed  Malay  named  Tony,  is  his  banker, 
and  from  him  he  is  continually  borrowing 
money.  It  is  related  that  on  a  voyage  to  Eng- 
land he  offered  to  make  a  wager  of  money, 
but  found  that  he  had  nothing  less  valuable 


l8o  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

than  a  handful  of  loose  rough  diamonds  in  his 
trousers  pocket. 

Mr.  Rhodes  is  an  eloquently  silent  man. 
He  talks  little,  but  his  paucity  of  words  is  no 
criterion  of  their  weight.  He  can  condense  a 
chapter  into  a  word,  and  a  book  into  a  sen- 
tence. The  man  whose  hobby  is  to  run  an 
empire  is  almost  as  silent  as  the  Sphinx  in  the 
land  toward  which  that  empire  is  being  elon- 
gated. His  sentences  are  short  and  curt.  "  I 
want  a  railroad  here,"  or  "  We  want  this  mine," 
or  "  We  must  have  this  strip  of  land,"  are 
common  examples  of  his  style  of  speech  and 
the  expression  of  his  dominant  spirit. 

He  has  the  faculty  of  leading  people  to 
believe  that  they  want  the  exact  opposite  of 
what  they  really  want,  and  he  does  it  in  such 
a  polished  manner  that  they  give  their  con- 
sent before  they  realize  what  he  has  asked 
them.  His  personal  charm,  which  in  itself  is 
almost  irresistible,  is  fortified  with  a  straight- 
forward, breezy  heartiness,  that  carries  with  it 
respect,  admiration,  confidence,  and,  finally, 
conviction.  He  has  argued  and  treated  with 
persons  ranging  in  intelligence  and  station  from 


a  native  chief  to  the  most  learned  diplomats 
and  rulers  in  the  world,  and  his  experience  has 
taught  him  that  argument  will  win  any  case. 

Lobengula  called  him  "  the  brother  who 
eats  a  whole  country  for  his  dinner."  To  this 
title  might  be  added  "  the  debater  who  swal- 
lows up  the  opposition  in  one  breath."  Mr. 
Rhodes  never  asks  exactly  what  he  wants.  He 
will  ask  the  shareholders  of  a  company  for  ten 
million,  when  he  really  needs  only  five  million, 
but  in  that  manner  he  is  almost  certain  of  sat- 
isfying his  needs.  In  the  same  way  when  he 
pleads  with  an  opponent  he  makes  the  demands 
so  great  that  he  can  afford  to  yield  half  and 
still  attain  his  object.  Twelve  years  ago  Mr. 
Rhodes  demanded  the  appointment  of  Prime 
Minister  of  the  Colony,  but  he  was  satisfied 
with  the  Commissionership  of  Crown  Lands 
and  Works,  the  real  object  of  his  aim. 

If  Mr.  Rhodes  had  cast  his  lines  in  America 
instead  of  South  Africa,  he  would  be  called  a 
political  boss.  He  would  be  the  dominant  fac- 
tor of  one  of  the  parties,  and  he  would  be  able 
to  secure  delegates  with  as  much  ease  as  he 

does  in  Cape  Colony,  where  the  population  is 
13 


1 82  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

less  mixed  than  in  our  country.  His  political 
lieutenants  act  with  the  same  vigour  and  on 
the  same  general  lines  as  those  in  our  coun- 
try, and  if  a  close  examination  of  their  work 
could  be  made,  many  political  tricks  that  the 
American  campaigner  never  heard  of  would 
probably  be  disclosed. 

One  of  the  mildest  accusations  against  him 
is  that  he  paid  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the 
support  that  first  secured  for  him  a  seat  in  the 
Cape  Colony  Parliament,  but  he  has  never  con- 
sidered it  worth  the  time  to  deny  the  report. 
His  political  success  depends  in  no  little  meas- 
ure upon  his  personal  acquaintanceship  with  the 
small  men  of  his  party,  and  his  method  of  treat- 
ing them  with  as  much  consideration  and  re- 
spect as  those  who  have  greater  influence.  He 
is  in  constant  communication  with  the  leaders 
of  the  rural  communities,  and  misses  no  op- 
portunity to  show  his  appreciation  of  their  sup- 
port. Mr.  Rhodes  may  be  kingly  when  he  is 
among  kings,  but  he  is  also  a  farmer  among 
farmers,  and  among  the  Cape  Dutch  and  Boers 
such  a  metamorphosis  is  the  necessary  stepping- 
stone  to  the  hearts  and  votes  of  that  numerous 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  183 

people.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  Mr.  Rhodes 
among  a  party  of  farmers  or  transport  riders 
each  one  of  whom  has  better  clothing  than  the 
multimillionaire. 

When  he  was  in  the  Cape  Parliament  Mr. 
Rhodes  wore  a  hat  which  was  so  shabby  that 
it  became  the  subject  of  newspaper  importance. 
When  he  is  in  Rhodesia  he  dons  the  oldest  suit 
of  clothing  in  his  wardrobe,  and  follows  the 
habits  of  the  pioneers  who  are  settling  the  coun- 
try. He  sleeps  in  a  native  kraal  when  he  is  not 
near  a  town,  and  eats  of  the  same  canned  beef 
and  crackers  that  his  Chartered  Company 
serves  to  its  mounted  police.  When  he  is  in 
that  primeval  country  he  despises  ostentation 
and  displays  in  his  honour,  and  will  travel  fifty 
miles  on  horseback  in  an  opposite  direction  in 
order  to  avoid  a  formal  proceeding  of  any  na- 
ture. Two  years  ago,  when  the  railroad  to 
Buluwayo,  the  capital  of  Rhodesia,  was  for- 
mally opened,  Mr.  Rhodes  telegraphed  his  re- 
grets, and  intimated  that  he  was  ill.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  he  travelled  night  and  day  in  order 
to  escape  to  a  place  where  telegrams  and  mes- 
sages could  not  reach  him.  When  his  host 


1 84  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

suggested  that  he  was  missing  many  entertain- 
ments and  the  society  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  South  Africa,  Mr.  Rhodes  smiled  and 
said:  "  For  that  reason  I  escaped." 

Formality  bores  him,  and  he  would  rather 
live  a  month  coatless  and  collarless  in  a  native 
kraal  with  an  old  colony  story-teller  than 
spend  half  an  hour  at  a  state  dinner  in  the 
governor's  mansion.  It  is  related  in  this  con- 
nection that  Mr.  Rhodes  was  one  of  a  distin- 
guished party  who  attended  the  opening  of  a 
railroad  extension  near  Cape  Town.  While 
the  speeches  were  being  made,  and  the  chair- 
man was  trying  to  find  him,  Mr.  Rhodes  slipped 
quietly  away,  and  was  discovered  discarding 
his  clothing  preparatory  to  enjoying  a  bath  in 
a  near-by  creek. 

Mr.  Rhodes  is  unmarried,  and  throughout 
the  country  has  the  reputation  of  being  an 
avowed  hater  of  women.  He  believes  that  a 
woman  is  an  impediment  to  a  man's  existence 
until  he  has  attained  the  object  and  aim  of  his 
life,  and  has  become  deserving  of  luxuries.  He 
not  only  believes  in  that  himself,  but  takes  ad- 
vantage of  every  opportunity  to  impress  the 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  185 

belief  upon  the  minds  of  those  around  him. 
In  the  summer  of  1897  a  captain  in  the  volun- 
teer army,  and  one  of  his  most  faithful  lieuten- 
ants in  Mashonaland,  asked  Mr.  Rhodes  for  a 
three  months'  leave  of  absence  to  go  to  Cape 
Colony.  The  captain  had  been  through  many 
native  campaigns,  and  richly  deserved  a  vaca- 
tion, although  that  was  not  the  real  object  of 
his  request  for  leave.  The  man  wanted  to  go 
to  Cape  Colony  to  marry,  and  by  severe  cross- 
examination  Mr.  Rhodes  learned  that  such  was 
the  case. 

"  I  can  not  let  you  go  to  Cape  Colony;  I 
want  you  to  start  for  London  to-morrow.  I'll 
cable  instructions  when  you  arrive  there,"  said 
Mr.  Rhodes,  and  the  wedding  was  postponed. 
When  the  captain  reached  London,  a  cable- 
gram from  Mr.  Rhodes  said  simply,  "  Study 
London  for  three  months." 

Nowhere  in  South  Africa  is  there  anything 
more  interesting  than  Groote  Schuur,  the  coun- 
try residence  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  at  Rondebosch, 
a  suburb  of  Cape  Town.  He  has  found  time 
amid  his  momentous  public  duties  to  make  his 
estate  the  most  magnificent  on  the  continent 


1 86  COM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

of  Africa.  Besides  a  mansion  which  is  a  relic 
of  the  first  settlers  of  the  peninsula,  and  now  a 
palace  worthy  of  a  king's  occupancy,  there  is 
an  estate  which  consists  of  hundreds  of  acres 
of  land  overlooking  both  the  Atlantic  and  In- 
dian Oceans,  and  under  the  walls  of  Table 
Mountain,  the  curio  of  a  country.  In  addition 
to  this,  there  are  a  zoological  collection,  which 
comprises  almost  every  specimen  of  African 
fauna  that  will  thrive  in  captivity,  and  hundreds 
of  flowering  trees  and  plants  brought  from 
great  distances  to  enrich  the  beauty  of  the 
landscape. 

The  estate,  which  comprises  almost  twelve 
hundred  acres,  is  situated  about  five  miles  to 
the  north  of  Cape  Town,  on  the  narrowest  part 
of  the  peninsula,  through  which  the  waters  of 
the  two  oceans  seem  ever  anxious  to  rush  and 
clasp  hands.  It  lies  along  the  northwestern 
base  of  Table  Mountain,  and  stretches  down 
toward  the  waters  of  Table  Bay  and  northward 
toward  the  death-dealing  desert  known  as  the 
Great  Karroo.  From  one  of  the  shady  streets 
winding  toward  Cape  Town  there  stretches  a 
fine  avenue  of  lofty  pines  and  oaks  to  the  man- 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  187 

sion  of  Groote  Schuur,  which,  as  its  name  in- 
dicates, was  originally  a  granary,  where  two 
hundred  years  ago  the  Dutch  colonizers  hoarded 
their  stores  of  grain  and  guarded  them  against 
the  attacks  of  thieving  natives. 

Although  many  changes  have  been  made 
in  the  structure  since  it  was  secured  by  Mr. 
Rhodes,  it  still  preserves  the  quaint  architec- 
tural characteristics  of  Holland.  The  scrolled 
gables,  moulded  chimney  pots,  and  wide  veran- 
das, or  "  stoeps,"  are  none  the  less  indicative 
of  the  tendencies  of  the  old  settlers  than  the 
Dutch  cabinets,  bureaus,  and  other  household 
furniture  that  still  remains  in  the  mansion  from 
those  early  days. 

The  entire  estate  breathes  of  the  old  Dutch 
era.  Everything  has  the  ancient  setting,  al- 
though not  at  the  expense  of  modern  con- 
venience. While  the  buildings  and  grounds  are 
arranged  in  the  picturesque  style  of  Holland, 
the  furnishings  and  comforts  are  the  most  mod- 
ern that  the  countries  of  Europe  afford.  The 
library  contains,  besides  such  classics  as  a  gradu- 
ate of  Oxford  would  have,  one  of  the  largest 
collections  of  books  and  manuscripts  bearing 


X88  OOM  "PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

on  Africa  in  existence.  In  the  same  room  is 
a  museum  of  souvenirs  connected  with  Mr. 
Rhodes's  work  of  extending  English  empire 
toward  the  heart  of  the  continent.  There  are 
flags  captured  in  wars  with  the  Portuguese, 
Union  Jacks  riddled  with  shot  and  cut  by  as- 
segai, and  hundreds  of  curiosities  gathered  in 
Rhodesia  after  the  conquest  of  the  natives.  In 
this  building  have  gathered  for  conference  the 
men  who  laid  the  foundations  for  all  the  great 
enterprises  of  South  Africa.  There  the  Jame- 
son raid  was  planned,  it  is  said,  and  there,  the 
Boers  say,  the  directors  of  the  British  South 
Africa  Chartered  Company  were  drinking  cham- 
pagne while  the  forces  of  Dr.  Jameson  were 
engaged  in  mortal  combat  with  those  of 
Kruger  near  Johannesburg. 

Surrounding  the  mansion  are  most  beauti- 
ful gardens,  such  as  can  be  found  only  in  semi- 
tropical  climates.  In  the  foreground  of  the 
view  from  the  back  part  of  the  house  is  a  Dutch 
garden,  rising  in  three  terraces  from  the  mar- 
ble-paved courtyard  to  a  grassy  knoll,  fringed 
with  tall  pines,  and  dotted  here  and  there  with 
graves  of  former  dwellers  at  Groote  Schuur. 


CECIL  JOHN   RHODES  189 

Behind  the  pine  fringe,  but  only  at  intervals 
obscured  by  it,  is  the  background  of  the  pic- 
ture— the  bush-clad  slopes  of  Table  Mountain 
and  the  Devil's  Peak,  near  enough  for  every 
detail  of  their  strange  formations  and  innumer- 
able attractions  to  be  observed.  Art  and  Na- 
ture have  joined  hands  everywhere  to  make 
lovely  landscapes,  in  which  the  colour  effects 
are  produced  by  hydrangeas,  azaleas,  and  scores 
of  other  flowers,  growing  in  the  utmost  profu- 
sion. Besides  the  mimosa,  palms,  firs,  and 
other  tropical  trees  that  add  beauty  to  the 
grounds,  there  is  a  low  tree  which  is  found  no- 
where else  on  earth.  Its  leaves  are  like  the 
purest  silver,  and  form  a  charming  contrast  to 
the  deep  green  of  the  firs  and  the  vivid  bright- 
ness of  the  flowers  that  are  everywhere  around. 
Undoubtedly,  however,  the  most  interest- 
ing feature  of  the  estate  is  the  natural  zoologi- 
cal garden.  It  is  quite  unique  to  have  in  this 
immense  park,  with  drives  six  miles  in  length 
and  ornamentations  brought  thousands  of  miles, 
wild  animals  of  every  variety  wandering  about 
with  as  much  freedom  as  if  they  were  in  their 
native  haunts.  In  this  collection  are  repre- 


190  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

sented  every  kind  of  African  deer  and  antelope. 
Zebra,  kangaroo,  giraffe,  emu,  pheasant,  and 
ostrich  seem  to  be  perfectly  contented  with 
their  adopted  home,  and  have  become  so  tame 
that  the  presence  of  human  beings  has  no  ter- 
rors for  them. 

This  vast  estate,  which  cost  Mr.  Rhodes 
several  million  dollars  to  bring  to  its  present 
condition,  sees  but  little  of  the  former  Premier 
of  Cape  Colony.  His  vast  enterprises  in  the 
diamond  fields  of  Kimberley  and  in  the  new 
country  which  bears  his  name  require  so  much 
of  his  time  that  he  but  seldom  visits  it.  But 
his  inability  to  enjoy  the  product  of  his  brain 
and  labour  does  not  cause  the  estate  to  be  un- 
appreciated, for  he  has  thrown  this  unique  and 
charming  pleasure  resort  open  to  the  public, 
and  by  them  it  is  regarded  as  a  national  pos- 
session. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT CIVIL   AND    MILITARY 

THE  Constitution,  or  Grondwet,  of  the 
South  African  Republic  is  a  modified  counter- 
part of  that  of  the  United  States.  It  differs 
in  some  salient  features,  but  in  its  entirety  it 
has  the  same  general  foundation  and  the  same 
objects.  The  executive  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  the  President,  who  is  elected  for  a 
term  of  five  years.  He  directs  the  policy  of 
the  Government,  suggests  the  trend  of  the 
laws,  and  oversees  the  conduct  of  the  Execu- 
tive Council,  which  constitutes  the  real  Gov- 
ernment. The  Executive  Council  consists  of 
three  heads  of  departments  and  six  unofficial 
members  of  the  First  Raad.  These  nine  officials 
are  the  authors  of  all  laws,  treaties,  and  poli- 
cies that  are  proposed  to  the  Volksraads, 
which  constitute  the  third  part  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. There  are  two  Volksraads,  one  simi- 

191 


I92  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

lar  in  purpose  to  our  Senate,  and  the  other, 
the  second  Volksraad,  not  unlike  our  House 
of  Representatives,  but  with  far  less  power. 

The  first  Volksraad  consists  of  twenty- 
seven  members  elected  from  and  by  the  burgh- 
ers, or  voters,  who  were  born  in  the  country. 
A  naturalized  burgher  is  ineligible  to  the  up- 
per House.  The  twenty-seven  members  of  the 
Second  Raad  are  naturalized  burghers,  and 
are  voted  for  only  by  men  who  have  received 
the  franchise.  The  second  House  has  control 
of  the  management  of  the  Government  works, 
telephones,  mails,  and  mines,  and  has  but  little 
voice  in  the  real  government  of  the  country. 
Its  members  are  undoubtedly  more  progressive 
and  have  more  modern  ideas  than  those  of 
the  First  Raad,  and  introduce  many  bills  which 
would  be  of  undoubted  benefit  to  the  country, 
but  the  upper  House  invariably  vetoes  all  bills 
that  reach  them  from  that  Raad.  The  First 
Raad  receives  bills  and  suggestions  from  the 
Executive  Council  or  from  the  President  him- 
self, but  refers  them  to  a  commission  for  in- 
vestigation before  any  action  is  taken  upon 
them.  The  evidence  in  support  of  proposed 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  ^3 

measures  does  not  reach  the  Raad,  which  only 
concerns  itself  with  the  report  of  the  com- 
mission. The  Raad  can,  by  motion,  make  a 
suggestion  to  the  Executive  Council  that  a 
certain  measure  should  be  formulated,  but  the 
Executive  Council  and  the  President  have  the 
authority  to  ignore  the  suggestion,  leaving 
the  First  Raad  without  a  vestige  of  authority. 
The  upper  House  concerns  itself  chiefly  with 
the  questions  of  finance,  changes  in  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  care  of  the  natives.  As  the 
question  of  finance  is  so  closely  connected  with 
almost  every  subject  that  comes  before  the 
Government,  it  follows  that  the  First  Raad 
concerns  itself  with  practically  the  entire  busi- 
ness of  the  Government.  The  popular  con- 
ception is  that  the  Second  Raad,  being  com- 
posed of  naturalized  citizens,  takes  less  inter- 
est in  the  affairs  of  the  country,  and  can  there- 
fore be  less  safely  trusted  with  their  conduct 
than  the  old  burghers  and  Voortrekkers  of  the 
upper  House,  who  would  rather  declare  war 
against  a  foreign  power  than  pass  a  law  in 
the  least  unfavourable  to  their  own  country's 
interests.  In  consequence  of  the  Second  Raad's 


194  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

infinitesimal  powers,  almost  the  entire  law- 
making  power  of  the  Government  is  vested 
in  the  Executive  Council  and  the  First  Raad. 

The  First  Raad  of  the  Transvaal  Republic 
is  the  direct  successor  of  the  democratic  form 
of  government  that  was  established  by  the 
Voortrekkers  of  1835  when  they  were  journey- 
ing from  Cape  Colony  to  the  northern  lands. 
The  Second  Raad  was  established  in  1890,  in 
order  that  the  Uitlanders  might  have  repre- 
sentation in  the  government  of  the  country. 
It  was  believed  that  the  newly  arrived  popu- 
lation would  take  advantage  of  the  opportu- 
nities thus  offered  to  take  part  in  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  republic,  and  in  that  way  bridge 
over  the  gulf  which  had  been  formed  between 
the  two  races.  The  Uitlanders  cared  little  for 
the  privilege  offered  to  them,  and  so  far  in 
the  history  of  the  Second  Raad  less  than  half 
a  score  of  its  members  have  been  elected  by 
the  new  population. 

The  annual  sessions  of  the  Volksraads  com- 
mence on  the  first  Monday  in  May,  and  con- 
tinue until  all  the  business  of  the  republic  has 
been  transacted.  The  members  of  the  two 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  ig$ 

Houses  receive  fifteen  dollars  a  day,  and  sev- 
enty-five cents  an  hour  for  services  extending 
over  more  than  the  five  hours  a  day  required 
by  the  law.  The  chairmen,  or  voorzitters,  of 
the  Raads  receive  seventeen  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  a  day,  and  one  dollar  an  hour  for  extra 
time. 

The  sessions  of  the  Raad  are  held  in  the 
new  million-dollar  Government  House  in  the 
central  part  of  the  town  of  Pretoria,  and  are 
open  to  the  public  except  when  executive 
business  is  being  transacted.  The  Raad  cham- 
bers are  exquisitely  fitted  out  with  rich  furni- 
ture and  tapestries,  the  windows  are  of  costly 
stained  glass,  and  the  walls  lavishly  decorated 
with  carved  wood  and  fine  paintings  of  the 
country's  notable  men.  On  a  lofty  elevation 
facing  the  entrance  to  the  First  Raad  chamber 
is  a  heavily  carved  mahogany  desk,  behind 
which  is  seated  the  chairman.  On  his  right 
is  a  seat  for  the  President,  while  on  the  right 
side  of  that  are  the  nine  chairs  for  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council.  Directly  in  front  and  beneath 
the  chairman's  desk  are  the  desks  of  the  three 
official  secretaries,  and  in  front  of  these,  in 


196  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

semicircular  form,  the  two  rows  of  seats  and 
desks  of  the  Raad  members.  In  the  rear  of 
the  chamber  on  either  side  of  the  entrance 
are  chairs  for  visitors,  while  high  in  the  left 
side  of  the  lofty  chamber  is  a  small  balcony 
for  the  newspaper  men. 

All  the  members  of  the  Raad  are  obliged 
by  law  to  wear  black  clothing  and  white  neck- 
ties. This  law  was  framed  to  prevent  some 
of  the  rural  members  from  appearing  in  their 
burgher  costumes,  and  has  had  the  effect  of 
making  of  the  Boer  Raads  a  most  sombre- 
looking  body  of  lawmakers.  Almost  all  mem- 
bers wear  long  frock-coats,  silk  hats,  and  heavy 
black  boots,  and  when,  during  the  recesses, 
they  appear  on  the  piazza  of  the  Government 
Building  with  huge  pipes  in  their  mouths,  the 
wisdom  of  the  black-clothing  law  is  not  ap- 
parent. There  is  little  formality  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Raads.  Certain  rules  are  ne- 
cessarily followed,  but  the  members  attack  a 
bill  in  much  the  same  vehement  manner  as 
they  would  a  lion  or  a  panther.  There  is  little 
eloquence  in  the  taal,  or  dialect,  that  is  spoken 
in  the  Raads,  and  the  similes  and  metaphors 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT 


I97 


bespeak  the  open  veldt  and  the  transport  path 
rather  than  the  council  chamber  of  a  nation. 

The  black-garbed  legislators  make  no  pre- 
tensions to  dignified  procedure,  and  when  a 
playful  member  trips  another  so  that  he  falls 
to  the  floor,  or  pelts  him  with  paper  balls, 
the  whole  Raad  joins  in  laughter.  The  gaud- 
ily dressed  pages — one  of  them  is  sixty-five 
years  old  and  wears  a  long  beard — are  on  terms 
of  great  familiarity  with  the  members,  and 
have  become  mildly  famous  throughout  the 
country  on  account  of  some  practical  jokes 
they  have  perpetrated  upon  the  members.  It 
is  only  justice  to  say  that  these  light  pro- 
ceedings take  place  only  when  the  President 
is  not  present.  When  he  arrives  in  the  cham- 
ber every  one  rises  and  remains  standing  until 
the  President  has  seated  himself.  He  gener- 
ally takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  subjects  be- 
fore the  House,  and  not  infrequently  speaks  at 
length  upon  measures  for  which  he  desires  a 
certain  line  of  action.  Many  of  President 
Kruger's  most  important  speeches  have  been 
delivered  to  the  Raads,  and  so  great  is  his  in- 
fluence over  the  members  that  his  wishes  are 

14 


PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

rarely  disregarded.  When  he  meets  with  op- 
position to  his  views  he  quickly  loses  his  tem- 
per, and  upon  one  occasion  called  a  certain 
member  who  opposed  him  a  traitor,  and  an- 
grily left  the  chamber.  A  short  time  after- 
ward he  returned  and  apologized  to  the  mem- 
ber and  to  the  Raad  for  having  in  his  anger 
used  unseemly  language. 

One  of  the  most  disappointing  scenes  to 
be  observed  in  Pretoria  is  the  horde  of  Uit- 
lander  politicians  and  speculators  who  are 
constantly  besieging  the  Raad  members  and 
the  Government  officials.  At  probably  no  other 
national  capital  are  the  legislators  tempted  to 
such  a  great  extent  as  are  the  Boers,  who, 
for  the  most  part,  are  ignorant  of  the  ways 
of  the  world  and  unfamiliar  with  great  amounts 
of  money.  Every  train  from  Johannesburg, 
the  Uitlander  capital,  takes  to  Pretoria  scores 
of  lobbyists,  who  use  all  their  powers,  both  of 
persuasion  and  finance,  to  influence  the  minds 
of  the  legislators,  either  in  the  way  of  grant- 
ing valuable  concessions  for  small  considerations 
or  of  securing  the  passage  of  bills  favourable 
to  the  lobbyists.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 


THE   BOER  GOVERNMENT  199 

Uitlanders  declare  that  less  than  one  fourth 
of  the  Raad  members  are  unassailably  honest 
and  that  all  the  others  can  be  bribed.  The 
Boer  alone  is  not  blameworthy  who,  having 
never  possessed  more  than  one  hundred  dol- 
lars at  one  time,  yields  to  the  constant  im- 
portunities of  the  lobbyist  and  sells  his  vot.e 
for  several  thousand  dollars. 

Beset  by  such  influences,  the  Raad  mem- 
bers are  naturally  suspicious  of  every  bill  that 
is  brought  before  them  for  consideration.  Their 
deliberations  are  marked  by  a  feeling  of  inse- 
curity akin  to  that  displayed  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  a  sheep-pen  surrounded  by  a  pack  of 
hungry  wolves.  They  fear  to  make  a  move  in 
any  direction  lest  their  motives  be  misunder- 
stood, or  they  play  into  the  hands  of  the  Uit- 
landers. As  a  consequence  of  this  external 
pressure,  progress  in  the  improvement  of  the 
methods  of  governing  the  country  has  been 
slow.  One  of  the  results  of  the  Volksraad's 
fearfulness  is  the  absence  of  local  governments 
throughout  the  republic.  There  are  no  mu- 
nicipalities, counties,  or  townships  which  can 
formulate  and  execute  local  laws.  Even  Jo- 


200  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

hannesburg,  a  city  of  one  hundred  thousand 
population,  has  no  municipal  government,  al- 
though several  attempts  have  been  made  to 
establish  one. 

The  Raads  are  burdened  with  the  necessity 
of  attending  to  all  the  details  which  govern 
the  administration  of  every  city,  village,  ham- 
let, and  district  in  the  entire  country,  and  the 
time  consumed  in  doing  all  this  leaves  little 
for  the  weightier  affairs  of  state.  If  a  five- 
dollar  road  bridge  is  required  in  an  out-of-the- 
way  place  in  the  northern  part  of  the  repub- 
lic, the  Raad  is  obliged  to  discuss  the  mat- 
ter. If  an  application  for  a  liquor  license 
comes  from  a  distant  point  in  the  interior,  the 
Raad  is  compelled  to  investigate  its  character 
before  it  can  be  voted  upon.  The  disadvan- 
tages of  this  system  are  so  evident  that  it  is 
hardly  conceivable  that  no  remedy  has  been 
applied  long  ago,  but  the  fear  of  local  misman- 
agement has  prevented  the  Raad  from  ridding 
itself  of  this  encumbrance  upon  its  time  and 
patience. 

Every  legislature  of  whatever  country  has 
its  idiosyncracies,  and  the  Raad  is  no  excep- 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  2OI 

tion.  Laws  are  upon  the  statute  books  of 
some  of  the  American  States  that  are  quite 
as  remarkable  as  some  of  those  made  by  the 
Boer  legislators.  Bills  quite  as  marvellous  have 
been  introduced  and  defeated  in  the  legisla- 
tures of  all  countries.  The  Boer  Volksraad 
has  no  monopoly  of  men  with  quaint  ideas. 
The  examples  of  Raad  workmanship  here  given 
are  rare,  but  true  nevertheless: 

A  man  named  Dums,  whose  big  farm  on 
the  border  became  British  territory  through 
a  treaty,  sued  the  Transvaal  Government  for 
damages,  whereupon  the  Raad  passed  a  law 
that  Dums  could  never  sue  the  Government 
for  anything.  The  High  Court  sustained  the 
law,  and  Dums  is  now  a  poor  cab-driver  in 
Pretoria.  Another  man  sued  the  Government 
for  damages  for  injuries  resulting  from  a  fall 
in  the  street.  He  was  successful  in  his  suit, 
but  the  Raad  immediately  thereafter  passed  a 
law  making  it  impossible  for  any  person  to 
sue  the  Government  for  injuries  received  on 
public  property. 

During  a  severe  drought  in  the  Transvaal 
an  American  professional  rain-maker  asked  the 


202  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Raad  for  a  concession  allowing  him  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  to  precipitate  rain  by  means  of 
explosives  in  the  air.  The  Raad  had  a  long 
and  animated  discussion  on  the  subject,  owing 
to  the  opposition  of  several  of  the  less  en- 
lightened members,  who  declared  that  the 
project  was  sacrilegious.  "  It  is  a  sin,"  they 
declared,  "  to  poke  your  fingers  in  the  Lord's 
eye  to  make  him  weep."  The  abiding  faith 
which  some  of  the  Raad  members  have  in 
divine  guidance  is  illustrated  by  a  discussion 
that  took  place  in  the  body  shortly  after  the 
Jameson  raid.  One  member  declared  that 
"  the  Lord  will  assist  us  in  this  matter  if  we 
will  only  bide  our  time,"  whereupon  another 
member  rose  and  said,  "  If  we  do  not  soon 
get  down  to  business  and  do  something  with- 
out the  Lord's  assistance,  the  Lord  will  take 
a  holiday  and  let  the  Transvaal  go  to  hell." 
A  law  which  was  in  effect  for  almost  two 
years  made  it  a  misdemeanour  for  any  one  to 
sing  "  God  save  the  Queen "  or  "  Rule  Bri- 
tannia "  in  the  country.  Mass  meetings  are 
prohibited  in  the  Transvaal,  but  Germany  and 
other  countries  with  less  political  foment  have 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  203 

equally  stringent  regulations  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, so  the  Uitlanders'  grievance  on  that  ac- 
count is  nullified. 

Second  to  that  of  the  Volksraad,  the  high- 
est power  in  the  Government  of  the  country 
is  the  High  Court,  which  is  composed  of  some 
of  the  ablest  jurists  in  South  Africa.  From 
a  constitutional  standpoint  the  High  Court 
has  no  right  or  power  to  review  the  acts  of 
the  Volksraad.  The  Constitution  of  the  coun- 
try gives  supreme  power  to  the  Volksraad  in 
all  legislative  matters,  and  when  a  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  High  Court  recently  attempted  to 
extend  his  jurisdiction  over  the  acts  of  the 
Volksraad  that  body  unceremoniously  dismissed 
him.  The  purpose  of  that  part  of  the  Consti- 
tution which  relates  to  the  subjugation  of  the 
High  Court  is  to  prevent  some  influential  ene- 
my of  the  republic  from  debauching  the  High 
Court  and  in  that  way  defying  the  authority 
of  the  Volksraad.  In  a  country  which  has  so 
many  peculiar  conditions  and  circumstances  to 
contend  with,  the  safety  of  its  institutions  de- 
pends upon  the  centralization  of  its  legislative 
and  administrative  branches,  and  the  wisdom 


204 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


of  the  early  burghers  who  framed  the  Consti- 
tution so  that  the  entire  governing  power  lay 
in  the  hands  of  the  country's  real  patriots  has 
been  amply  demonstrated  upon  several  occa- 
sions. 

The  civil  and  criminal  laws  of  the  country 
are  administered  throughout  the  different  po- 
litical divisions  by  local  magistrates,  called 
land-drosts,  who  also  collect  the  revenues  of 
the  district  and  inform  the  Volksraad  of  the 
needs  of  the  people  under  their  jurisdiction. 
The  land-drost  is  the  prototype  of  the  old-time 
American  country  squire,  in  that  he  settles 
disputes,  awards  damages,  and  conducts  offi- 
cial business  generally.  In  the  majority  of 
cases  the  land-drosts  are  aged  persons  who 
have  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  members 
of  the  community  in  which  they  dwell  and  to 
whom  they  bear  the  relation  of  fatherly  ad- 
visers in  all  things.  In  Johannesburg  and  Pre- 
toria the  land-drosts  are  men  of  eminent  sta- 
tion in  the  legal  profession  of  South  Africa, 
and  are  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
regardless  of  their  political  or  racial  qualifica- 
tions. All  the  court  proceedings  are  conducted 


THE    BOER   GOVERNMENT  205 

in  the  Dutch  language,  and  none  but  Dutch- 
speaking  lawyers  are  admitted  to  practise  be- 
fore the  bar.  The  law  of  the  land  is  Holland- 
Roman. 

The  military  branch  of  the  Government  is 
undoubtedly  the  best  and  most  effective  be- 
cause it  is  the  simplest.  It  is  almost  primitive 
in  its  simplicity,  yet  for  effectiveness  its  supe- 
rior is  not  easily  found.  The  Transvaal  glories 
in  its  army,  and,  as  every  man  between  the 
ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty  is  a  nominal  member 
of  the  army,  nothing  is  left  undone  to  make 
it  worthy  of  its  glory.  The  standing  army 
of  the  republic  numbers  less  than  two  hundred 
men,  and  these  are  not  always  actively  engaged. 
A  detachment  of  about  twenty  soldiers  is  gen- 
erally on  duty  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Govern- 
ment House  at  Pretoria,  and  the  others  are 
stationed  at  the  different  forts  throughout  the 
republic.  The  real  army  of  the  Transvaal, 
however,  is  composed  of  the  volunteer  sol- 
diers, who  can  be  mobilized  with  remarkable 
facility. 

The  head  of  the  army  is  the  commandant- 
general,  who  has  his  headquarters  in  Pretoria, 


2o6  COM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

He  is  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the 
Volksraad  and  the  President,  who  have  the 
power  to  declare  war  and  direct  its  conduct. 
Second  in  authority  to  the  commandant-gen- 
eral are  the  commandants,  permanent  officials 
who  have  charge  of  the  military  affairs  of  the 
seventeen  districts  of  the  republic.  Under  the 
old  South  African  burgher  law  each  com- 
mandant in  any  emergency  "  commandeers  "  a 
certain  portion  of  men  from  his  district. 

The  various  districts  are  subdivided  into 
divisions'  in  charge  of  field-cornets  and  assist- 
ant field-cornets.  As  soon  as  the  comman- 
dant-general issues  an  order  for  the  mobiliza- 
tion of  the  volunteer  army  the  commandants 
and  their  assistants,  the  field-cornets,  speedily 
go  from  one  house  to  another  in  their  dis- 
tricts and  summon  the  burghers  from  their 
homes.  When  the  burgher  receives  the  call, 
he  provides  his  own  gun,  horse,  and  for- 
age, and  hastens  to  the  district  rendezvous, 
where  he  places  himself  under  the  orders  of 
the  field-cornet.  After  all  the  burghers  of 
the  district  have  gathered  together,  the  body 
proceeds  into  an  adjoining  district,  where  it 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  207 

joins  the  forces  that  have  been  similarly  mo- 
bilized there.  As  a  certain  number  of  districts 
are  obliged  to  join  their  forces  at  a  defined 
locality,  the  forces  of  the  republic  are  conse- 
quently divided  into  different  army  divisions 
under  the  supervisions  of  the  commandants. 

In  the  event  that  Pretoria  were  threatened 
with  attack,  the  order  would  be  given  to  move 
all  the  forces  to  that  city.  The  districts  on 
the  border  would  gather  their  men  and  march 
toward  Pretoria,  carrying  with  them  all  the 
forces  of  the  districts  through  which  they  were 
obliged  to  pass.  So  simple  and  perfect  is  the 
system  that  within  forty-eight  hours  after  the 
call  is  issued  by  the  commandant-general  four 
army  divisions,  representing  the  districts  in 
the  four  quarters  of  the  republic  and  consist- 
ing of  all  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  country, 
can  be  mobilized  on  the  outskirts  of  Pretoria. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  another  nation 
on  earth  that  can  gather  its  entire  fighting 
strength  at  its  seat  of  government  in  such  a 
brief  time. 

The  Transvaal  Boer  is  constantly  prepared 
for  the  call  to  arms.  He  has  his  own  rifle 


208  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

and  ammunition  at  his  home,  and  when  the 
call  comes  he  need  only  bridle  his  horse — if  he 
is  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  an  animal  so  rare 
in  the  Transvaal — stuff  several  pounds  of  bil- 
tong, or  dried  beef,  in  his  pockets,  and  com- 
mence the  march  over  the  veldt  to  the  district 
rendezvous.  He  can  depend  upon  his  wife 
and  children  to  care  for  the  flocks  and  herds; 
but  if  the  impending  danger  appears  to  be 
great,  the  cattle  are  deserted  and  the  women 
and  children  are  taken  to  a  rendezvous  spe- 
cially planned  for  such  an  emergency.  If  there 
is  a  need,  the  Boer  woman  will  stand  side  by 
side  with  her  husband  or  her  brother  or  her 
sweetheart,  and  will  allow  no  one  to  surpass 
her  in  repelling  the  attacks  of  the  enemy. 
Joan  of  Arcs  have  been  as  numerous  in  the 
Boer  armies  as  they  have  been  unheralded. 

The  head  of  the  military  branch  of  the 
Transvaal  Government  for  many  years  has  been 
Commandant-General  P.  J.  Joubert,  who,  fol- 
lowing President  Kruger,  is  the  ablest  as  well 
as  the  most  popular  Boer  in  South  Africa. 
General  Joubert  is  the  best  type  of  the  Boer 
fighter  in  the  country,  and  as  he  represents 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  209 

the  army,  he  has  always  been  a  favourite  with 
the  class  which  would  rather  decide  a  disputed 
point  by  means  of  the  rifle  than  by  diplomacy, 
as  practised  by  President  Kruger.  General 
Joubert,  although  the  head  of  the  army,  is 
not  of  a  quarrelsome  disposition,  and  he  too 
believes  in  the  peaceful  arbitration  of  differ- 
ences rather  than  a  resort  to  arms.  By  the 
Uitlanders  he  is  considered  to  be  the  most 
liberal  Boer  in  the  republic,  and  he  has  upon 
numerous  occasions  shown  that  he  would  treat 
the  newcomers  in  the  country  with  more  leni- 
ency than  the  Kruger  Government  if  he  were 
in  power. 

In  his  capacity  of  Vice-President  of  the  re- 
public he  has  been  as  impotent  as  the  Vice- 
President  is  in  the  United  States,  but  his  in- 
fluence has  always  been  wielded  with  a  view  of 
harmonizing  the  differences  of  the  native  and 
alien  populations.  Twice  the-  more  liberal  and 
progressive  party  of  the  Boers  has  put  him 
forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in 
opposition  to  Mr.  Kruger,  and  each  time  he 
has  been  defeated  by  only  a  small  majority. 
The  younger  Boers  who  have  come  in  touch 


2io  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

with  the  more  modern  civilization  have  stead- 
fastly supported  General  Joubert,  while  the 
older  Boers,  who  are  ever  fearful  that  any  one 
but  Mr.  Kruger  would  grant  too  many  con- 
cessions to  the  Uitlanders,  have  wielded  their 
influence  against  him.  Concerning  the  fran- 
chise for  Uitlanders,  General  Joubert  is  more 
liberal  than  President  Kruger,  who  holds  that 
the  stability  of  the  Government  depends  upon 
the  exclusiveness  of  the  franchise  privilege. 
General  Joubert  believes  that  there  are  many 
persons  among  the  Uitlanders  who  have  a  real 
desire  to  become  citizens  of  the  republic  and 
to  take  part  in  the  government.  He  believes 
that  an  intending  burgher  should  take  an  oath 
of  fidelity,  and  afterward  be  prepared  to  do 
what  he  can  for  the  country,  either  in  peace 
or  war.  If  after  three  or  four  years  the  appli- 
cant for  the  franchise  has  shown  that  he 
worked  in  the  interests  of  the  country  and 
obeyed  its  laws,  General  Joubert  believes  that 
the  Uitlander  should  enjoy  all  the  privileges 
that  a  native  burgher  enjoys — namely,  voting 
for  the  candidates  for  the  presidency  and  the 
First  Volksraad. 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  211 

General  Joubert's  name  has  been  connected 
with  Transvaal  history  almost  as  long  and  as 
prominently  as  that  of  President  Kruger.  The 
two  men  are  virtually  the  fathers  of  the  Boer 
republic.  General  Joubert  has  always  been 
the  man  who  fought  the  battles  with  armies, 
while  Mr.  Kruger  conducted  the  diplomatic 
battles,  and  both  were  equally  successful  in 
their  parts.  General  Joubert,  as  a  youth  among 
the  early  trekkers  from  Natal,  was  reared  amid 
warfare.  During  the  Transvaal's  early  battles 
with  the  natives  he  was  a  volunteer  soldier 
under  the  then  Commandant-General  Kruger, 
and  later,  when  the  war  of  independence  was 
fought,  he  became  General  Joubert.  He  com- 
manded the  forces  which  fought  the  battles 
of  Laing's  Nek,  Bronkhorst  Spruit,  and  Ma- 
juba  Hill,  and  he  was  one  of  the  triumvirate 
that  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Government 
during  that  crucial  time.  He  has  been  Vice- 
President  of  the  republic  since  the  independ- 
ence of  the  country  has  been  re-established, 
and  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  army  during 
the  time  when  Jameson's  troopers  threatened 
the  safety  of  the  country.  He  has  had  a  not- 


212  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

able  career  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and 
as  a  reward  for  his  services  he  is  deserving  of 
nothing  less  than  the  presidency  of  the  repub- 
lic after  Mr.  Kruger's  life-work  is  ended. 

General  Joubert  is  no  less  distinguished  as 
a  diplomatist  among  his  countrymen  than 
President  Kruger,  and  many  stories  are  cur- 
rent in  Pretoria  showing  that  he  has  been  able 
to  accomplish  many  things  wherein  Mr.  Kru- 
ger failed.  An  incident  which  occurred  imme- 
diately after  the  Jameson  raid,  and  which  is 
repeated  here  exactly  as  related  by  one  of  the 
participants  of  the  affair,  is  illustrative  of  Gen- 
eral Joubert  and  his  methods  of  dealing  with 
his  own  people.  The  story  is  given  in  almost 
the  exact  language  of  the  narrator  who  was 
the  eyewitness: 

"  Shortly  after  Jameson  and  his  officers 
were  brought  to  Pretoria,  President  Kruger 
called  about  twenty  of  the  Boer  commanders 
to  his  house  for  a  consultation.  The  towns- 
people were  highly  excited,  and  the  presence 
of  the  men  who  had  tried  to  destroy  the  re- 
public aggravated  their  condition  so  that  there 
were  few  calm  minds  in  the  capital.  President 


THE   BOER   GOVERNMENT  213 

Kruger  was  deeply  affected  by  the  seriousness 
of  the  events  of  the  days  before,  but  coun- 
selled all  those  present  to  be  calm.  There 
were  some  in  the  gathering  who  advised  that 
Jameson  and  his  men  should  be  shot  imme- 
diately, while  one  man  jocosely  remarked  that 
they  should  not  be  treated  so  leniently,  and 
suggested  that  a  way  to  make  them  suffer 
would  be  to  cut  off  their  ears. 

"  One  of  the  men  who  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  meeting  gave  this  account  to  the 
waiting  throngs  in  the  street,  and  a  few  hours 
afterward  the  cable  had  carried  the  news  to 
Europe  and  America,  with  the  result  that  the 
Boers  were  called  brutal  and  inhuman.  Presi- 
dent Kruger  used  all  his  influence  and  elo- 
quence to  save  the  lives  of  the  prisoners,  and 
for  a  long  time  he  was  unsuccessful  in  secur- 
ing the  smallest  amount  of  sympathy  for 
Jameson  and  his  men.  It  was  dawn  when 
General  Joubert  was  won  to  the  President's 
way  of  thinking,  and  he  continued  the  argu- 
ment in  behalf  of  the  prisoners. 

"  '  My  friends,  I  will  ask  you  to  listen  pa- 
tiently to  me  for  several  minutes,'  he  corn- 
is 


214  OOM   PAUL>S   PEOPLE 

menced.  *  I  will  tell  you  the  story  of  the 
farmer  and  the  neighbour's  dog.  Suppose  that 
near  your  farm  lives  a  man  whose  valuable 
dogs  attack  your  sheep  and  kill  many.  Will 
you  shoot  the  dogs  as  soon  as  you  see  them, 
and  in  that  way  make  yourself  liable  for  dam- 
ages greater  than  the  value  of  the  sheep  that 
were  destroyed?  Or  will  you  catch  the  dogs 
when  you  are  able  to  do  so  and,  carrying  them 
to  your  neighbour,  say  to  him:  "  I  have  caught 
your  dogs;  now  pay  me  for  the  damage  they 
have  done  me,  and  they  shall  be  returned  to 
you." ' 

"  After  a  moment's  silence  General  Jou- 
bert's  face  lighted  up  joyfully,  and  he  ex- 
claimed: 

"  '  We  have  the  neighbour's  dogs  in  the  jail. 
What  shall  we  do  with  them? ' 

"  The  parable  was  effective,  and  the  coun- 
cil of  war  decided  almost  instantly  to  deliver 
the  prisoners  to  the  British  Government." 


CHAPTER   IX 

CAUSES    OF    THE    PRESENT    DISSENSIONS 

THE  politicians  and  the  speculators  have 
been  the  bane  of  South  Africa.  Ill-informed 
secretaries  of  the  British  Colonial  Office  might 
augment  the  list,  but  their  stupidity  in  treating 
with  colonial  grievances  is  so  proverbial  as  to 
admit  them  to  the  rank  of  natural  or  provi- 
dential causes  of  dissension.  Until  the  Boer 
Government  came  into  the  foreground,  the  poli- 
ticians and  speculators  used  South  Africa  as  a 
huge  chessboard,  whereon  they  could  manipu- 
late the  political  and  commercial  affairs  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  to  suit  their 
own  fancies  and  convenience. 

It  was  a  dilettante  politician  who  operated 
in  South  Africa  and  could  not  make  a  cat's-paw 
of  the  colonial  secretary  in  Downing  Street, 
and  it  was  a  stupid  speculator  who  was  un- 
able to  be  the  power  behind  the  enthroned  poli- 

215 


2i6  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

tician.  And  South  Africa  has  been  the  victim. 
Hundreds  of  men  have  gone  to  South  Africa 
and  have  become  millionaires,  but  thousands  re- 
main in  the  country  praying  for  money  where- 
with to  return  home.  The  former  are  the  poli- 
ticians and  the  speculators;  the  latter  are  the 
miners,  the  workingmen,  and  the  tradespeople. 

It  is  a  country  where  the  man  with  a  mil- 
lion becomes  a  multimillionaire,  and  the  man 
with  hundreds  becomes  penniless.  It  is  the 
wealthy  man's  footstool  and  the  poor  man's 
cemetery.  Men  go  there  to  acquire  riches;  few 
go  there  to  assist  in  making  it  tenable  for  white 
men.  Thousands  go  there  with  the  avowed 
intention  of  making  their  fortunes  and  then  to 
return.  Those  who  go  there  as  came  the  im- 
migrants to  America — -to  settle  and  develop 
the  new  country — can  be  counted  only  by  the 
score.  Of  the  million  white  people  south  of 
the  Zambezi,  probably  one  half  are  mere  for- 
tune-seekers, who  would  leave  the  country  the 
very  instant  they  secured  a  moderate  fortune. 

These  have  the  welfare  of  the  country  at 
heart  only  in  so  far  as  it  interferes  or  assists 
them  in  attaining  their  desired  goal.  They 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS 


217 


would  ask  that  Portugal  be  allowed  to  rule  all 
of  South  Africa  if  they  received  the  assurance 
that  the  much-sought-after  fortune  could  be 
secured  six  months  sooner.  They  have  no  con- 
science other  than  that  which  prevents  them 
from  stabbing  a  man  to  relieve  him  of  his 
money.  They  go  to  the  gold  and  diamond 
fields  to  secure  wealth,  and  not  to  assist  in  de- 
veloping law  and  order,  good  government,  or 
good  institutions. 

The  other  half  of  the  white  population  is 
composed  of  men  and  women  who  were  born 
in  the  country  —  Afrikanders,  Dutch,  Boers, 
and  other  racial  representatives,  and  others 
who  have  emigrated  thither  from  the  densely 
populated  countries  of  Europe,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  remaining  in  the  country  and  taking 
part  in  its  government  and  institutions.  These 
classes  comprise  the  South  Africans,  who  love 
their  country  and  take  a  real  interest  in  its  de- 
velopment and  progress.  They  know  its  needs 
and  prospects,  and  are  abundantly  able  to  con- 
duct its  government  so  that  it  will  benefit  Boer, 
Englishman,  Dutchman,  Natalian,  and  native. 

The  defects  in  the  Government  of  Cape  Col- 


2i8  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ony  and  Natal  are  the  natural  results  of  the 
handicaps  that  have  been  placed  on  the  local 
legislation  by  the  Colonial  Office  in  London, 
who  are  as  ignorant  of  the  real  conditions  of 
their  colonies  as  a  Zulu  chieftain  is  of  the 
political  situation  in  England.  The  colonial 
papers  teem  with  letters  from  residents  who 
express  their  indignation  at  the  methods  em- 
ployed by  the  Colonial  Office  in  dealing  with 
colonial  affairs.  Especially  is  this  the  case  in 
Natal,  the  Eden  of  South  Africa,  where  the  deal- 
ings of  the  Colonial  Office  with  regard  to  the 
Zulus  have  been  stupidly  carried  on.  South 
African  men  of  affairs  who  are  not  bigoted  do 
not  hesitate  to  express  their  opinion  that  Cape 
Colony  and  Natal  have  been  retarded  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  in  their  natural  growth  by  the 
handicap  of  the  Colonial  Office.  Their  opin- 
ion is  based  upon  the  fact  that  every  war,  with 
the  exception  of  several  native  outbreaks,  has 
been  caused  by  blundering  in  the  Colonial 
Office,  and  that  all  the  wars  have  retarded  the 
natural  growth  and  development  of  the  colo- 
nies to  an  aggregate  of  twenty-five  years.  In 
this  estimate  is  not  included  the  great  harm 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS 


219 


to  industries  that  has  been  caused  by  the  score 
or  more  of  heavy  war  clouds  with  which  the 
country  has  been  darkened  during  the  last  half 
century.  These  being  some  of  the  difficulties 
with  which  the  two  British  colonies  in  South 
Africa  are  beset,  it  can  be  readily  inferred  to 
what  extent  the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  have 
had  cause  for  grievance.  In  their  dealings  with 
the  Boers  the  British  have  invariably  assumed 
the  role  of  aristocrats,  and  have  looked  upon 
and  treated  the  "  trekkers  "  as  sans-culottes. 

This  natural  antipathy  of  one  race  for  an- 
other has  given  glorious  opportunities  for 
strife,  and  neither  one  nor  the  other  has  ever 
failed  to  take  quick  advantage.  The  struggle  be- 
tween the  Boers  and  the  British  began  in  Cape 
Colony  almost  one  hundred  years  ago,  and  it  . 
has  continued,  with  varying  degrees  of  bitter- 
ness, until  the  present  day.  The  recent  dis- 
turbances in  the  Transvaal  affairs  date  from 
the  conclusion  of  the  war  of  independence  in 
1 88 1.  When  the  Peace  Commissioners  met 
there  was  inserted  in  the  treaty  one  small  clause 
which  gave  to  England  her  only  right  to  in- 
terfere in  the  political  affairs  of  the  Transvaal. 


220  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

The  Boer  country  at  that  time  was  consid- 
ered of  such  little  worth  that  Gladstone  de- 
clared it  was  not  of  sufficient  value  to  be  hon- 
oured with  a  place  under  the  British  flag.  To 
the  vast  majority  of  the  British  people  it  was 
a  matter  of  indifference  whether  the  Transvaal 
was  an  independent  country  or  a  dependency 
of  their  own  Government.  The  clause  which 
was  allowed  to  enter  the  treaty  unnoticed,  and 
which  during  recent  years  has  figured  so  promi- 
nently in  the  discussions  of  South  African  af- 
fairs, reads: 

"  The  South  African  Republic  will  con- 
clude no  treaty  or  engagement  with  any  state 
or  nation  other  than  the  Orange  Free  State, 
nor  with  any  native  tribe  to  the  eastward  or 
the  westward  of  the  republic,  until  the  same 
has  been  approved  by  her  Majesty  the  Queen. 
Such  approval  shall  be  considered  to  have  been 
granted  if  her  Majesty's  Government  shall  not, 
within  six  months  after  receiving  a  copy  of 
such  treaty  (which  shall  be  delivered  to  them 
immediately  upon  its  completion),  have  noti- 
fied that  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty 'is  in  con- 
flict with  the  interests  of  Great  Britain,  or  of 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS     221 

any  of  her  Majesty's  possessions  in  South 
Africa." 

When  the  contents  of  the  treaty  were  pub- 
lished to  the  Boer  people,  many  of  them  ob- 
jected strongly  to  this  clause,  and  insisted  that 
it  gave  the  British  too  great  power  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  republic,  and  a  strenuous  effort  was 
made  to  have  the  offending  clause  eliminated. 
In  the  year  1883  a  deputation,  which  included 
Paul  Kruger,  was  sent  to  London,  with  a  view 
of  obtaining  the  abolition  of  the  suzerainty. 
This  deputation  negotiated  a  new  convention 
the  following  year,  from  which  the  word 
"  suzerainty "  and  the  stipulations  in  regard 
thereto  were  removed.  In  their  report  to  the 
Volksraad,  made  in  1884,  the  deputation  stated 
that  the  new  convention  put  an  end  to  the 
British  suzerainty. 

February  4,  1884,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Derby, 
then  in  charge  of  British  affairs,  the  deputa- 
tion announced  to  him  that  they  expected  an 
agreement  to  be  contained  in  the  treaty  rela- 
tive to  the  abolition  of  the  suzerainty.  In  his 
reply  of  a  week  later,  Lord  Derby  made  a  state- 
ment upon  which  the  Boers  base  their  strong- 


222  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

est  claim  that  the  suzerainty  was  abolished.  He 
said: 

"  By  the  omission  of  those  articles  of  the 
convention  of  Pretoria  which  assigned  to  her 
Majesty  and  to  the  British  resident  certain  spe- 
cific powers  and  functions  connected  with  the 
internal  government  and  the  foreign  relations 
of  the  Transvaal  state,  your  Government  will 
be  left  free  to  govern  the  country  without  in- 
terference, and  to  conduct  its  diplomatic  inter- 
course and  shape  its  foreign  policy,  subject  only 
to  the  requirement  embodied  in  the  fourth  arti- 
cle of  the  new  draft,  that  any  treaty  with  a 
foreign  state  shall  not  have  effect  without  the 
approval  of  the  Queen." 

For  a  period  of  almost  ten  years  the  suze- 
rainty of  England  over  the  Transvaal  was  an 
unknown  quantity.  With  the  exception  of  sev- 
'eral  Government  officials,  there  were  hardly 
any  Englishmen  in  the  country,  and  no  one 
had  the  slightest  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Transvaal  Government.  When  gold  was  dis- 
covered in  the  Randt  in  quantities  that  equalled 
those  of  the  early  days  of  the  California  gold 
fields,  an  unparalleled  influx  of  Englishmen  and 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS   223 

foreigners  followed,  and  in  several  years  the 
city  of  Johannesburg  had  sprung  up  in  the 
veldt. 

The  opening  of  hundreds  of  mines,  and  the 
consequent  increase  in  expenditures,  made  it 
necessary  for  the  Transvaal  Government  to  in- 
crease its  revenues.  Mining  laws  had  to  be 
formulated,  new  offices  had  to  be  created,  hun- 
dreds of  new  officials  had  to  be  appointed,  and 
all  this  required  the  expenditure  of  more  money 
in  one  year  than  the  Government  had  spent  in 
a  decade  before  the  opening  of  the  mines. 
The  Government  found  itself  in  a  quandary, 
and  it  solved  the  problem  of  finances  as  many 
a  stronger  and  wealthier  government  has  done. 

Concessions  were  granted  to  dynamite, 
railway,  electric  light,  electric  railway,  water, 
and  many  other  companies,  and  these  furnished 
to  the  Government  the  nucleus  upon  which 
depended  its  financial  existence.  Few  of  the 
concessions  wrere  obtained  by  British  subjects, 
and  when  the  monopolies  took  advantage  of 
their  opportunities,  and  raised  the  price  of 
dynamite  and  the  rates  for  carrying  freight,  the 
Englishmen,  who  owned  all  the  mines,  natu- 


224  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

rally  objected.  The  Boer  Government,  having 
bound  itself  hand  and  foot  when  hard  pressed 
for  money,  was  unable  to  compel  the  conces- 
sionaries to  reduce  their  rates. 

At  that  period  of  the  Randt's  existence  the 
speculators  appeared,  and  soon  thereafter  the 
London  Stock  Exchange  became  a  factor  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Randt.  Where  the  Stock 
Exchange  leads,  the  politicians  follow,  and  they 
too  soon  became  interested  in  South  African 
affairs.  Then  the  treaty  of  1883  was  found  in 
the  Colonial  Office  archives,  and  next  appears 
a  demand  to  the  Boer  Government  that  all 
British  residents  of  the  Transvaal  be  allowed  to 
vote.  The  Boers  refused  to  give  the  franchise 
to  any  applicant  unless  he  first  renounced  his 
allegiance  to  other  countries,  and,  as  the  Brit- 
ish subjects  declined  to  accede  to  the  request, 
the  politicians  became  busily  engaged  in  formu- 
lating other  plans  whereby  England  might  ob- 
tain control  of  the  country. 

.  At  that  inopportune  time  Jameson's  troop- 
ers entered  the  Transvaal  territory  and  at- 
tempted to  take  forcible  possession  of  the 
country;  but  they  were  unsuccessful,  and  only 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS   225 

succeeded  in  directing  the  world's  sympathy 
to  the  Boers.  The  Jameson  raid  was  practi- 
cally Cecil  J.  Rhodes's  first  important  attempt 
to  add  the  Transvaal  to  the  list  of  South  Afri- 
can additions  he  has  made  to  the  British  Em- 
pire. The  result  was  especially  galling  to  him, 
as  it  was  the  first  time  his  great  political  schemes 
failed  of  success. 

But  Rhodes  is  not  the  man  to  weep  over 
disasters.  Before  the  excitement  over  the  raid 
had  subsided,  Rhodes  had  concocted  a  plan  to 
inflict  a  commercial  death  upon  the  Transvaal, 
and  in  that  manner  force  it  to  beg  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  English  flag.  He  opened  Rho- 
desia, an  adjoining  country,  for  settlement,  and 
by  glorifying  the  country,  its  mineral  and  agri- 
cultural wealth,  and  by  offering  golden  induce- 
ments to  Transvaal  tradespeople,  miners,  and 
even  Transvaal  subjects,  he  hoped  to  cause  such 
an  efflux  from  the  Transvaal  that  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  embarrassed  in  less  than  two 
years.  The  country  which  bears  his  name  was 
found  to  be  amazingly  free  from  mountains  of 
gold  and  rivers  of  honey,  and  the  several  thou- 
sand persons  who  had  faith  in  his  alluring  prom- 


226  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ises  remained  in  Rhodesia  less  than  a  year,  and 
then  returned  to  the  Transvaal. 

The  reports  of  the  Rhodesian  country  that 
were  brought  back  by  the  disappointed  miners 
and  settlers  were  not  flattering  to  the  condition 
of  the  country  or  the  justice  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Of  two  evils,  they  chose  the  lesser,  and 
again  placed  themselves  under  the  Kruger 
Government.  When  revolution  and  entice- 
ment failed  to  bring  the  Transvaal  under  the 
British  flag,  Rhodes  inaugurated  a  political 
propaganda.  His  last  resort  was  the  Colonial 
Office  in  London,  and  in  that  alone  lay 
the  only  course  by  which  he  could  attain  his 
object. 

Again  the  franchise  question  was  resorted 
to  as  the  ground  of  the  contention,  the  dyna- 
mite and  railway  subjects  having  been  so  thor- 
oughly debated  as  to  be  as  void  of  ground 
for  further  contention  as  they  had  always  been 
foreign  to  British  control  or  interference.  The 
question  of  granting  the  right  of  voting  to  the 
Uitlanders  in  the  Transvaal  is  one  which  so 
vitally  affects  the  future  life  of  the  Government 
that  the  Boers'  concession  of  that  right  would 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS  227 

be  tantamount  to  presenting  the  country  to 
the  British  Government. 

Ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  Uitlanders  of 
the  Transvaal  are  no  more  than  transient  citi- 
zens. They  were  attracted  thither  by  the  gold 
mines  and  the  attendant  industries,  and  they 
have  no  thought  of  staying  in  the  Transvaal 
a  minute  after  they  have  amassed  a  fortune  or 
a  competency.  Under  no  consideration  would 
they  remain  in  the  country  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives,  because  the  climate  and  nature  of  the 
country  are  not  conducive  to  a  desire  for 
long  residence.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that 
less  than  one  per  cent,  of  the  Uitlanders  had 
sufficient  interest  in  the  country  to  pass  through 
the  formality  of  securing  naturalization  papers 
preparatory  to  becoming  eligible  for  the  fran- 
chise. 

The  Boer  Government  has  offered  that  all 
Uitlanders  of  nine  years'  residence,  having  cer- 
tain unimportant  qualifications,  should  be  en- 
franchised in  two  years,  and  that  others  should 
be  enfranchised  in  seven  years — two  years  for 
naturalization  and  five  more  years'  resident — 
before  acquiring  the  right  to  vote. 


228  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

There  is  a  provision  for  a  property  qualifi- 
cation, which  makes  it  necessary  for  the  natu- 
ralized citizen  to  own  a  house  of  no  less  value 
than  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  renting 
value,  or  an  income  of  one  thousand  dollars. 
The  residence  clause  in  the  Transvaal  qualifica- 
tions compares  favourably  with  those  of  Lon- 
don, where  an  Englishman  from  any  part  of 
the  country  and  settling  in  the  municipality  is 
obliged  to  live  two  years  and  have  certain  prop- 
erty qualifications  before  acquiring  the  right 
of  franchise. 

In  full  knowledge  of  these  conditions  the 
Uitlanders  insist  upon  having  an  unconditional 
franchise — one  that  will  require  nothing  more 
than  a  two-years'  residence  in  the  country. 
The  Boers  are  well  aware  of  the  results  that 
would  follow  the  granting  of  the  concessions 
demanded,  but  not  better  so  than  the  Uitland- 
ers who  make  the  demands.  The  latest  Trans- 
vaal statistics  place  the  number  of  Boer  burgh- 
ers in  the  country  at  less  than  thirty  thousand. 
At  the  lowest  estimate  there  are  in  the  Trans- 
vaal fifty  thousand  Uitlanders  having  the  re- 
quired qualifications,  and  all  of  these  would  be- 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS 


229 


come  voters  in  two  years.  At  the  first  election 
held  after  the  two  years  had  elapsed  the  Uit- 
landers  would  be  victorious,  and  those  whom 
they  elected  would  control  the  machinery  of 
the  Government.  The  Uitlanders'  plan  is  as 
transparent  as  air,  yet  it  has  the  approval  and 
sanction  of  the  English  politicians,  press,  and 
public. 

The  propaganda  which  Rhodes  and  other 
politicians  and  stock  brokers  interested  in  the 
Transvaal  gold  mines  inaugurated  a  short  time 
after  the  Jameson  raid  has  been  successful  in 
arousing  the  people  in  England  to  what  they 
have  been  led  to  believe  is  a  situation  unequalled 
in  the  history  of  the  empire-building.  But  there 
is-  a  parallel  case.  At  the  same  time  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament  was  discussing  the  subject  of 
the  alleged  injustice  under  which  the  English 
residents  of  the  Transvaal  were  suffering,  the 
colonial  secretary  was  engaged  in  disposing  of 
grievances  which  reached  him  from  the  Dutch 
residents  of  British  Guiana,  in  South  America, 
and  which  recited  conditions  parallel  to  those 
complained  of  by  the  Uitlanders.  The  griev- 
ances were  made  by  foreign  residents  of  Eng- 

16 


230  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

lish  territory,  instead  of  by  English  subjects  in 
a  foreign  country,  and  consequently  demanded 
less  serious  attention,  but  their  justice  was  none 
the  less  patent.  The  three  thousand  native 
Dutch  voters  in  British  Guiana  have  no  voice 
in  the  legislative  or  administrative  branches  of 
the  colonial  government,  owing  to  the  pecul- 
iar laws  which  give  to  the  three  thousand  Brit- 
ish-born citizens  the  complete  control  of  the 
franchise.  The  population  of  the  colony  is 
three  hundred  thousand,  yet  the  three  thou- 
sand British  subjects  make  and  administer  the 
laws  for  the  other  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  inhabitants,  who  compose  the 
mining  and  agricultural  communities  and  are 
treated  with  the  same  British  contempt  as  the 
Boers.  The  Dutch  residents  have  made  many 
appeals  for  a  fuller  representation  in  the  Gov- 
ernment, but  no  reforms  have  been  inaugu- 
rated or  promised. 

The  few  grievances  which  the  Uitlanders 
had  before  the  Jameson  raid  have  been  multi- 
plied a  hundredfold  and  no  epithet  is  too  ven- 
omous for  them  to  apply  to  the  Boers.  The 
letters  in  the  home  newspapers  have  allied  the 


CAUSES   OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS  231 

name  of  the  Boers  with  every  vilifying  adjec- 
tive in  the  English  dictionary,  and  returning 
politicians  have  never  failed  to  supply  the 
others  that  do  not  appear  in  the  book. 

Petitions  with  thousands  of  names,  some 
real,  but  many  non-existent,  have  been  for- 
warded to  the  Colonial  Office  and  to  every  other 
office  in  London  where  they  would  be  received, 
and  these  have  recited  grievances  that  even  the 
patient  Boer  Volksraad  had  never  heard  about. 
It  has  been  a  propaganda  of  petitions  and  let- 
ters the  like  of  which  has  no  parallel  in  the 
history  of  politics.  It  has  been  successful  in 
arousing  sentiment  favourable  to  the  Uitland- 
ers,  and  at  this  time  there  is  hardly  a  handful 
of  persons  in  England  who  are  not  willing  to 
testify  to  the  utter  degradation  of  the  Boers. 

Another  branch  of  the  propaganda  operated 
through  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  its  results 
were  probably  more  practical  than  those  of  the 
literary  branch.  It  is  easier  to  reach  the  Eng- 
lish masses  through  the  Stock  Exchange  than 
by  any  other  means.  Whenever  one  of  the 
"  Kaffir  "  or  Transvaal  companies  failed  to  make 
both  ends  meet  in  a  manner  which  pleased  the 


232 


OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


stockholders,  it  was  only  necessary  to  blame 
the  Boer  Government  for  having  impeded  the 
digging  of  gold,  and  the  stockholders  prompt- 
ly outlined  to  the  Colonial  Office  the  policy  it 
should  pursue  toward  the  Boers. 

The  impressions  that  are  formed  in  watch- 
ing the  tide  of  events  in  the  Transvaal  are  that 
the  Boer  Government  is  not  greatly  inferior 
to  the  Government  of  Lord  Salisbury  and 
Secretary  Chamberlain.  The  only  appreciable 
difference  between  the  two  is  that  the  Boers 
are  fighting  the  cause  of  the  masses  against  the 
classes,  while  the  English  are  fighting  that  of 
the  classes  against  the  masses.  In  England, 
where  the  rich  have  the  power,  the  poor  pay  the 
taxes,  while  in  the  Transvaal  the  poor  have  the 
power  and  compel  the  rich  to  pay  the  taxes. 
If  the  Transvaal  taxes  were  of  such  serious 
proportions  as  to  be  almost  unbearable,  there 
might  be  a  cause  for  interference  by  the  Uit- 
lander  capitalists  who  own  the  mines,  but  there 
no  injustice  is  shown  to  any  one.  The  only 
taxes  that  the  Uitlanders  are  compelled  to  pay 
are  the  annual  poll  tax  of  less  than  four  dollars 
and  a  half,  mining  taxes  of  a  dollar  and  a  quar- 


CAUSES  OF   THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS   233 

ter  a  month  for  each  claim  for  prospecting 
licenses,  and  five  dollars  a  claim  for  diggers' 
licenses.  Boer  and  Uitlander  are  compelled  to 
pay  these  taxes  without  distinction. 

The  Boers,  in  this  contention,  must  win  or 
die.  In  earlier  days,  before  every  inch  of  Afri- 
can soil  was  under  the  flag  of  one  country  or 
another,  they  were  able  to  escape  from  Eng- 
lish injustice  by  loading  their  few  possessions 
on  wagons  and  "  trekking  "  into  new  and  un- 
explored lands.  If  they  yield  their  country  to 
the  English  without  a  struggle,  they  will  be 
forced  to  live  under  a  future  Stock  Exchange 
Government,  which  has  been  described  by  a 
member  of  the  British  Parliament  as  likely  to 
be  "  the  vilest,  the  most  corrupt,  and  the  most 
pernicious  known  to  man."  * 

The  Boers  have  no  better  argument  to  ad- 
vance in  support  of  their  claim  than  that  which 
is  contained  in  the  Transvaal  national  hymn. 
It  at  once  gives  a  history  of  their  country,  its 
many  struggles  and  disappointments,  and  its 
hopes.  It  is  written  in  the  "  taal  "  of  the  coun- 

*  The  Hon.  Henry  Labouchere,  in  London  Truth. 


234 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


try,  and  when  sung  by  the  patriotic,  deep-voiced 
Boers  is  one  of  the  most  impressive  hymns  that 
ever  inspired  a  nation. 

THE   TRANSVAAL   VOLKSLIED. 
The  four-colours  of  our  dear  old  land 

k 

Again  float  o'er  Transvaal, 
And  woe  the  God-forgetting  hand 

That  down  our  flag  would  haul ! 
Wave  higher  now  in  clearer  sky 

Our  Transvaal  freedom's  stay  ! 

(Lit.,  freedom's  flag.) 
Our  enemies  with  fright  did  fly ; 

Now  dawns  a  glorious  day. 

Through  many  a  storm  ye  bravely  stood, 

And  we  stood  likewise  true ; 
Now,  that  the  storm  is  o'er,  we  would 

Leave  nevermore  from  you 
Bestormed  by  Kaffir,  Lion,  Brit, 

Wave  ever  o'er  their  head  ; 
And  then  to  spite  we  hoist  thee  yet 

Up  to  the  topmost  stead  ! 

Four  long  years  did  we  beg — aye,  pray — 

To  keep  our  lands  clear,  free, 
We  asked  you,  Brit,  we  loath  the  fray : 

"  Go  hence,  and  let  us  be  ! 
We've  waited,  Brit,  we  love  you  not, 

To  arms  we  call  the  Boer ;  " 

(Lit.,  Now  take  we  to  our  guns.) 
"  You've  teased  us  long  enough,  we  troth, 

Now  wait  we  nevermore." 


CAUSES   OF    THE   PRESENT   DISSENSIONS  235 

And  with  God's  help  we  cast  the  yoke 

Of  England  from  our  knee ; 
Our  country  safe — behold  and  look — 

Once  more  our  flag  waves  free  ! 
Though  many  a  hero's  blood  it  cost, 

May  all  the  nations  see 

(Lit.,  Though  England  ever  so  much  more.) 
That  God  the  Lord  redeemed  our  hosts ; 

The  glory  his  shall  be. 

Wave  high  now  o'er  our  dear  old  land, 

Wave  four-colours  of  Transvaal ! 
And  woe  the  God-forgetting  hand 

That  dares  you  down  to  haul ! 
Wave  higher  now  in  clearer  sky 

Our  Transvaal  freedom's  stay ! 
Our  enemies  with  fright  did  fly ; 

Now  dawns  a  glorious  day. 


CHAPTER  X 

PREPARATIONS    FOR    DEFENCE 

EVER  since  the  Jameson  raid  both  the 
Boers  and  the  Uitlanders  have  realized  that  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  differences  between 
the  two  is  possible  but  highly  improbable. 
The  Uitlanders  refused  to  concede  anything 
to  the  Boer,  and  asked  for  concessions  that 
implied  a  virtual  abandonment  of  their  coun- 
try to  the  English,  whom  they  have  always  de- 
tested. The  Boers  themselves  have  not  been 
unmindful  of  the  inevitable  war  with  their 
powerful  antagonist,  and,  not  unlike  the  tiny 
ant  of  the  African  desert,  which  fortifies  its 
abode  against  the  anticipated  attack  of  wild 
beasts,  have  made  of  their  country  a  veritable 
arsenal. 

Probably  no  inland  country  in  the  world  is 
half  so  well  prepared  for  war  at  any  time  as 

that    little    Government,    which    can    boast    of 
236 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   DEFENCE  237 

having  less  than  thirty  thousand  voters.  The 
military  preparation  has  been  so  enormous  that 
Great  Britain  has  been  compelled,  according 
to  the  colonial  secretary's  statement  to  the 
British  Parliament,  to  expend  two  and  a  half 
million  dollars  annually  in  South  Africa  in 
order  to  keep  pace  with  the  Boers.  Four 
years  ago,  when  the  Transvaal  Government 
learned  that  the  Uitlanders  of  Johannesburg 
were  planning  a  revolution,  it  commenced  the 
military  preparations  which  have  ever  since 
continued  with  unabating  vigour.  German  ex- 
perts were  employed  to  formulate  plans  for  the 
defence  of  the  country,  and  European  artiller- 
ists were  secured  to  teach  the  arts  of  modern 
warfare  to  the  men  at  the  head  of  the  Boer 
army.  Several  Americans  of  military  train- 
ing became  the  instructors  in  the  national  mili- 
tary school  at  Pretoria;  and  even  the  women 
and  children  became  imbued  with  the  neces- 
sity of  warlike  preparation,  and  learned  the 
use  of  arms.  Several  million  pounds  were  an- 
nually spent  in  Europe  in  the  purchase  of  the 
armament  required  by  the  plans  formulated  by 
the  experts,  and  the  whole  country  was  placed 


238  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

on  a  war  footing.  Every  important  strategic 
position  was  made  as  impregnable  as  modern 
skill  and  arms  could  make  it,  and  every  farm- 
er's cottage  was  supplied  with  arms  and  am- 
munition, so  that  the  volunteer  army  might 
be  mobilized  in  a  day. 

In  order  to  demonstrate  the  extent  to 
which  the  military  preparation  has  been  car- 
ried, it  is  only  necessary  to  give  an  account 
•of  the  defences  of  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg, 
the  two  principal  cities  of  the  country.  Pre- 
toria, being  the  capital,  and  naturally  the  chief 
point  of  attack  by  the  enemy,  has  been  pre- 
pared to  resist  the  onslaught  of  any  number 
of  men,  and  is  in  a  condition  to  withstand  a 
siege  of  three  years.  The  city  lies  in  the  cen- 
tre of  a  square,  at  each  corner  of  which  is  a 
lofty  hill  surmounted  by  a  strong  fort,  which 
commands  the  valleys  and  the  surrounding 
country.  Each  of  the  four  forts  has  four 
heavy  cannon,  four  French  guns  of  fifteen 
miles  range,  and  thirty  heavy  Catling  guns. 
Besides  this  extraordinary  projection,  the  city 
has  fifty  light  Catling  guns  which  can  be 
drawn  by  mules  to  any  point  on  the  hills 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   DEFENCE 


239 


where  an  attack  may  be  made.  Three  large 
warehouses  are  rilled  with  ammunition,  and 
the  large  armory  is  packed  to  the  eaves  with 
Mauser,  Martini-Henry,  and  Wesley-Richards 
rifles.  Two  extensive  refrigerators,  with  a  ca- 
pacity of  two  thousand  oxen  each,  are  ample 
provision  against  a  siege  of  many  months.  It 
is  difficult  to  compute  the  total  expenditures 
for  war  material  by  the  Boer  Government  dur- 
ing the  last  four  years,  but  the  following  offi- 
cial announcement  of  expenses  for  one  year 
will  serve  to  give  an  idea  of  the  vastness 
of  the  preparations  that  the  Government  has 
been  compelled  to  make  in  order  to  guard  the 
safety  of  the  country: 

War-Office  salaries $262,310 

War  purposes 4>717>55o 

Johannesburg  revolt 800,000 

Public  works 3,650,000 

$9,429,860 

Johannesburg  has  extensive  fortifications 
around  it,  but  the  Boers  will  use  them  for 
other  purposes  than  those  of  self-protection. 
The  forts  at  the  Golden  City  were  erected  for 
the  purpose  of  quelling  any  revolution  of  the 


240  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

Uitlanders,  who  constitute  almost  entirely  the 
population  of  the  city. 

One  of  the  forts  is  situated  on  a  small 
eminence  about  half  a  mile  north  of  the  busi- 
ness part,  and  commands  the  entire  city  with 
its  guns.  Two  years  were  consumed  in  build- 
ing the  fortification  and  in  placing  the  arma- 
ment in  position.  Its  guns  can  rake  not  only 
every  street  of  the  city,  but  ten  of  the  prin- 
cipal mine  works  as  well,  and  the  damage  that 
their  fire  could  cause  is  incalculable.  Another 
fort,  almost  as  strong  as  the  one  in  Jo- 
hannesburg, is  situated  a  mile  east  of  the  city, 
and  overshadows  the  railway  and  the  principal 
highway  to  Johannesburg.  The  residents  of 
the  city  are  greatly  in  fear  of  underground 
works,  which  they  have  been  led  to  believe 
were  constructed  since  the  raid.  Vast  quan- 
tities of  earth  were  taken  out  of  the  Johan- 
nesburg fort,  and  for  such  a  length  of  time  did 
the  work  continue  that  the  Uitlanders  decided 
that  the  Boers  were  undermining  the  city, 
and  protested  to  the  Government  against  such 
a  course.  As  soon  as  war  is  declared  and 
the  women  and  children  have  been  removed 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE 


24I 


from  the  city,  Johannesburg  will  be  rent  with 
shot  and  shell.  The  Boers  have  announced 
their  intention  of  doing  this,  and  the  Uit- 
landers,  anticipating  it,  seek  safety  in  flight 
whenever  there  are  rumours  of  war,  as  thou- 
sands did  immediately  before  and  after  the 
Jameson  affair. 

The  approaches  to  the  mountain  passes 
on  the  border  have  been  fortified  with  vast 
quantities  of  German  and  French  ordnance, 
and  equipped  with  garrisons  of  men  born  or 
trained  in  Europe.  The  approaches  to  Laing's 
Nek,  near  the  Natal  border,  which  have  sev- 
eral times  been  the  battle  ground  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  Boer  forces,  have  been  prepared  to 
resist  an  invading  army  from  Natal.  Much 
attention  has  been  directed  to  the  preparations 
in  that  part  of  the  republic,  because  the  British 
commanders  will  find  it  easier  to  transfer  forces 
from  the  port  of  Durban,  which  is  three  hun- 
dred and  six  miles  from  the  Transvaal  border, 
while  Cape  Town  is  almost  a  thousand  miles 
distant. 

But  the  Pretorian  Government  has  made 
many  provisions  for  war  other  than  those  enu- 


242 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


merated.  It  has  made  alliances  and  friends 
that  will  be  of  equal  worth  in  the  event  of 
an  attack  by  England.  The  Orange  Free 
State,  whose  existence  is  as  gravely  imperilled 
as  that  of  the  Transvaal,  will  fight  hand-in- 
hand  with  its  neighbour,  just  as  it  was  pre- 
pared to  do  at  the  time  of  the  Jameson 
raid,  when  almost  every  Free  State  burgher 
lay  armed  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Vaal 
River,  awaiting  the  summons  for  assistance 
from  the  Kruger  Government.  In  the  event 
of  war  the  two  Governments  will  be  as  one, 
and,  in  anticipation  of  the  struggle  of  the 
Boers  against  the  British,  the  Free  State  Gov- 
ernment has  been  expending  vast  sums  of 
money  every  year  in  strengthening  the  coun- 
try's defences.  At  the  same  time  that  the 
Free  State  is  being  prepared  for  war,  its  Govern- 
ment officials  are  striving  hard  to  prevent  a 
conflict,  and  are  attempting  to  conciliate  the 
two  principals  in  the  strife  by  suggesting  that 
concessions  be  made  by  both.  The  Free  State 
is  not  so  populous  as  the  Transvaal,  and  con- 
sequently can  not  place  as  many  men  in  the 
field,  but  the  ten  thousand  burghers  who  will 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE      243 

answer  the  call  to  arms  will  be  an  acceptable 
addition  to  the  Boer  forces. 

The  element  of  doubt  enters  into  the  ques- 
tion of  what  the  Boers  and  their  co-religion- 
ists of  Cape  Colony  and  Natal  will  do  in  the 
event  of  war.  The  Dutch  of  Cape  Colony 
are  the  majority  of  the  population,  and,  al- 
though loyal  British  subjects  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  are  opposed  to  English  inter- 
ference in  the  Transvaal's  affairs.  Those  of 
Natal,  while  not  so  great  in  numbers,  are 
equally  friendly  with  the  Transvaal  Boers,  and 
would  undoubtedly  recall  some  of  their  old 
grievances  against  the  British  Government  as 
sufficient  reason  to  join  the  Boers  in  war. 

In  Cape  Colony  there  is  an  organization 
called  the  Afrikander  Bond  which  recently  has 
gained  control  of  the  politics  of  the  colony, 
and  which  will  undoubtedly  be  supreme  for 
many  years  to  come.  The  motto  of  the  or- 
ganization is  "  South  Africa  for  South  Afri- 
cans," and  its  doctrine  is  that  South  Africa 
shall  be  served  first  and  Great  Britain  after- 
ward. Its  members,  who  are  chiefly  Dutch,  be- 
lieve their  first  duty  is  to  assist  the  develop- 


244 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


ment  of  the  resources  of  their  own  country 
by  proper  protective  tariffs  and  stringent  legis- 
lation in  native  affairs,  and  they  regard  legis- 
lation with  a  view  to  British  interests  as  of 
secondary  importance.  The  Bond  has  been 
very  amicably  inclined  toward  its  Afrikander 
kinsmen  in  the  Transvaal,  especially  since  the 
Jameson  raid,  and  every  sign  of  impending 
trouble  between  England  and  the  Boers  widens 
the  chasm  between  the  English  and  Afrikan- 
ders of  South  Africa.  The  Dutch  approve  of 
President  Kruger's  course  in  dealing  with  the 
franchise  problems,  and  if  hostilities  break  out 
it  would  be  not  the  least  incompatible  with 
their  natures  to  assist  their  Transvaal  and 
Free  State  kinsmen  even  at  the  risk  of  plung- 
ing the  whole  of  South  Africa  into  a  civil 
war.  W.  P.  Schreiner,  the  Premier  of  Cape 
Colony,  is  the  leading  member  of  the  Bond, 
and  with  him  he  has  associated  the  major- 
ity of  the  leading  men  in  the  colony.  Un- 
der ordinary  conditions  their  loyalty  to  Great 
Britain  is  undoubted,  but  whether  they  could 
resist  the  influence  of  their  friends  in  the 
Bond  if  it  should  decide  to  cast  its  fortunes 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE 


245 


with  the  Boers  in  case  of  war  is  another 
matter. 

Of  such  vast  importance  is  the  continued 
loyalty  of  the  Dutch  of  the  two  colonies  that 
upon  it  depends  practically  the  future  control 
of  the  Cape  by  the  British  Government.  Be- 
ing in  the  majority  as  three  to  two,  and  al- 
most in  supreme  control  of  the  local  govern- 
ment, the  Dutch  of  Cape  Colony  are  in  an 
excellent  position  to  secede  from  the  empire, 
as  they  have  already  threatened  to  do,  in 
which  event  England  would  be  obliged  to  fight 
almost  the  united  population  of  the  whites  if 
she  desired  to  retain  control  of  the  country. 
With  this  in  mind,  it  is  no  wonder  that  Mr. 
Chamberlain  declared  that  England  had  reached 
a  critical  turning  point  in  the  history  of  the 
empire. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  situation  is  in- 
creased by  the  doubtful  stand  which  the  native 
races  are  taking  in  the  dispute.  Neither  Eng- 
land nor  the  Boers  has  the  positive  assurance 
of  support  from  any  of  the  tribes,  which  out- 
number the  whites  as  ten  to  one;  but  it  will 

not  be  an  unwarranted  opinion   to  place   the 
17 


246  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

majority  of  the  native  tribes  on  the  side  of 
the  Boers.  The  native  races  are  always  eager 
to  be  the  friends  of  the  paramount  power, 
and  England's  many  defeats  in  South  Africa 
during  recent  years  have  not  assisted  in  gain- 
ing for  it  that  prestige.  When  England  enters 
upon  a  war  with  the  Transvaal  the  natives  will 
probably  follow  the  example  of  the  Matabele 
natives,  who  rebelled  against  the  English  im- 
mediately after  Jameson  and  his  men  were  de- 
feated by  the  Boers,  because  they  believed  a 
conquered  nation  could  offer  no  resistance. 
The  Boers,  having  won  the  last  battle,  are 
considered  by  the  natives  to  be  the  paramount 
power,  and  it  is  always  an  easy  matter  to  in- 
duce a  subjected  people  to  ally  itself  with  a 
supposedly  powerful  one. 

The  Zulus,  still  stinging  under  the  defeat 
which  they  received  from  the  British  less  than 
twenty  years  ago,  might  gather  their  war 
parties  and,  with  the  thousands  of  guns  they 
have  been  allowed  to  buy,  attempt  to  secure 
revenge.  The  Basutos,  east  of  the  Orange 
Free  State,  now  the  most  powerful  and  the 
only  undefeated  nation  in  the  country,  would 


PREPARATIONS  FOR   DEFENCE  247 

hardly  allow  a  war  to  be  fought  unless  they 
participated  in  it,  even  if  only  to  demonstrate 
to  the  white  man  that  they  still  retain  their 
old-time  courage  and  ability.  The  million 
and  a  half  natives  in  Cape  Colony,  and  the 
equal  number  in  the  Transvaal,  have  complained 
of  so  many  alleged  grievances  at  the  hands  of 
their  respective  governments  that  they  might 
be  presumed  to  rise  against  them,  though  it 
is  never  possible  to  determine  the  trend  of 
the  African  negro's  mind.  What  the  various 
tribes  would  do  in  such  an  emergency  can  be 
answered  only  by  the  chiefs  themselves,  and 
they  will  not  speak  until  the  time  for  action 
is  at  hand.  Perhaps  when  that  time  does 
arrive  there  may  be  a  realization  of  the  na- 
tives' dream — that  a  great  leader  will,  come 
from  the  north  who  will  organize  all  the 
various  tribes  into  one  grand  army  and 
with  it  drive  the  hated  white  men  into  the 
sea. 

It  is  impossible  to  secure  accurate  statis- 
tics in  regard  to  the  military  strength  of  the  vari- 
ous colonies,  states,  and  tribes  in  the  country, 
but  the  following  table  gives  a  fair  idea  of 


248 


OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


the  number  of  men  who  are  liable  to  military 
duty: 


Dutch. 

English. 

Native. 

Cape  Colony  

2O,OOO 

IOOOO 

I7^,OOO 

Natal  :  

7.OOO 

<;,ooo 

lOOjOOO 

Orange  Free  State       

IO,OOO 

30  ooo 

Transvaal  

3O,OOO 

20  ooo 

140,000 

2,000 

25,000 

Swaziland  and  Basutoland  

30,000 

Total  

67  ooo 

•57  OOO 

C7O  OOO 

To  him  who  delights  in  forming  possible 
coalitions  and  war  situations  this  table  offers 
vast  opportunities.  Probably  no  other  coun- 
try can  offer  such  a  vast  number  of  possibili- 
ties for  compacts  between  nations,  races,  and 
tribes  as  is  presented  in  South  Africa.  There 
all  the  natives  may  unite  against  the  whites, 
or  a  part  of  them  against  a  part  of  the  whites, 
while  whites  and  natives  may  unite  against 
a  similar  combination.  The  possibilities  are 
boundless;  the  probabilities  are  uncertain. 

The  Pretorian  Government  has  had  an  ex- 
tensive secret  service  for  several  years,  and 
this  has  been  of  inestimable  value  in  securing 
the  support  of  the  natives  as  well  as  the 
friendship  of  many  whites,  both  in  South  Af- 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE      249 

rica  and  abroad.  The  several  thousand  Irish- 
men in  South  Africa  have  been  organized  into 
a  secret  compact,  and  have  been  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  of  great  value  to  the  Boers.  The 
head  of  the  organization  is  a  man  who  is  one 
of  President  Kruger's  best  friends,  and  his 
lieutenants  are  working  even  as  far  away  as 
America.  The  sympathy  of  the  majority  of 
the  Americans  in  the  Transvaal  is  with  the 
Boer  cause,  and,  although  the  American  con- 
sul-general at  Cape  Town  has  cautioned  them 
to  remain  neutral,  they  will  not  stand  idly  by 
and  watch  the  defeat  of  a  cause  which  they 
believe  to  be  as  just  as  that  for  which  their 
forefathers  fought  at  Bunker  Hill  and  Lex- 
ington. 

But  the  Boers  do  not  rely  upon  external 
assistance  to  win  their  battles  for  them.  When 
it  becomes  necessary  to  defend  their  liberty 
and  their  country  they  reverently  place  their 
trust  in  Providence  and  their  rifles.  Their 
forefathers'  battles  were  won  with  such  con- 
fidence, and  the  later  generations  have  been 
similarly  successful  under  like  conditions.  The 
rifle  is  the  young  Boer's  primer  and  the  grand- 


250  O°M   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

father's  testament.  It  is  the  Boers'  avenger  of 
wrong  and  the  upholder  of  right.  That  their 
confidence  in  their  rifles  has  not  been  misap- 
plied has  been  demonstrated  at  Laing's  Nek, 
Majuba  Hill,  Doornkop,  and  in  battles  with 
natives. 

The  natural  opportunities  provided  by  Na- 
ture which  in  former  years  were  responsible 
for  the  confidence  which  the  Boers  reposed  in 
their  rifles  may  have  disappeared  with  the  ap- 
proach of  advancing  civilization,  but  the  Boer 
of  to-day  is  as  dangerous  an  adversary  with 
a  gun  as  his  father  was  in  the  wars  with  the 
Zulus  and  the  Matabeles  half  a  century  ago. 
The  buck,  rhinoceros,  elephant,  and  hippo- 
potamus are  not  as  numerous  now  as  then, 
but  the  Boer  has  devised  other  means  by 
which  he  may  perfect  himself  in  marksman- 
ship. Shooting  is  one  of  the  main  diversions 
of  the  Boer,  and  prizes  are  offered  for  the 
best  results  in  contests.  It  is  customary  to 
mark  out  a  ring,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  diameter,  in  the  centre  of  which  a 
small  stuffed  figure  resembling  a  bird  is  at- 
tached to  a  pole.  The  marksmen  stand  on 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE      251 

the  outside  of  the  circle  and  fire  in  turn  at 
the  target.  A  more  curious  target,  and  one 
that  taxes  the  ability  of  the  marksman,  is  in 
more  general  use  throughout  the  country.  A 
hole  sufficiently  deep  to  retain  a  turkey-cock 
is  dug  in  a  level  plot  of  ground,  and  over 
this  is  placed  a  piece  of  canvas  which  contains 
a  small  hole  through  which  the  bird  can  ex- 
tend and  withdraw  its  hea^.  At  a  distance  of 
three  hundred  feet  the  bird's  head  is  a  target 
by  no  means  easily  hit. 

Military  men  are  accustomed  to  sneer  at 
the  lack  of  generalship  of  the  Boer  forces,  but 
in  only  one  of  the  battles  in  which  they  have 
engaged  the  British  forces  have  the  trained 
military  men  and  leaders  been  able  to  cope 
with  them.  In  the  battle  of  Boomplaats, 
fought  in  1848,  the  English  officers  can  claim 
their  only  victory  over  the  Boers,  who  were 
armed  with  flintlocks,  while  the  British  forces 
had  heavy  artillery.  In  almost  all  the  encoun- 
ters that  have  taken  place  the  Boer  forces  were 
not  as  large  as  those  of  the  enemy,  yet  the  rec- 
ords show  that  many  more  casualties  were  in- 
flicted than  received  by  them.  In  the  chief  en- 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


gagements  the  appended  statistics  show  that 
the  Boers  had  only  a  small  percentage  of  their 
men  in  the  casualty  list,  while  the  British  losses 
were  much  greater. 


BATTLES. 

MEN    ENGAGED. 

CASUALTIES. 

British. 

Boer. 

British. 

Boer. 

Laing's  Nek  

400 
300 
600 
250 
600 

550 
250 
150 
300 
400 

190 
142 
280 
1  2O 
IOO 

24 
17 

5 

I 

5 

Ingogo  

Majuba  Hill  

Jameson  raid  

It  is  hardly  fair  to  assume  that  the  Boers' 
advantages  in  these  battles  were  gained  without 
the  assistance  of  capable  generals  when  it  is 
taken  into  consideration  that  there  is  a  military 
axiom  which  places  the  value  of  an  army  rela- 
tively with  the  ability  of  its  commanders.  The 
Boers  may  exaggerate  when  they  assert  that 
one  of  their  soldiers  is  the  equal  in  righting 
ability  of  five  British  soldiers,  but  the  results 
of  the  various  battles  show  that  they  have  some 
slight  foundation  for  their  theory. 

The  regular  British  force  in  South  Africa 
is  comparatively  small,  but  it  would  require 
less  than  a  month  to  transport  one  hundred 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE      253 

thousand  trained  soldiers  from  India  and  Eng- 
land and  place  them  on  the  scene  of  action. 
Several  regiments  of  trained  soldiers  are  al- 
ways stationed  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try near  the  Transvaal  border,  and  at  brief  no- 
tice they  could  be  placed  on  Boer  territory. 
Charlestown,  Ladysmith,  and  Pietermaritzburg, 
in  Natal,  have  been  British  military  headquar- 
ters for  many  years,  and  during  the  last  three 
years  they  have  been  strengthened  by  the  ad- 
dition of  several  regular  regiments.  The  Brit- 
ish Colonial  Office  has  been  making  prepara- 
tions for  several  years  for  a  conflict.  Every 
point  in  the  country  has  been  strengthened, 
and  all  the  foreign  powers  whose  interests  in 
the  country  might  lead  them  to  interfere  in 
behalf  of  the  Boers  have  been  placated.  Ger- 
many has  been  taken  from  the  British  zone  of 
danger  by  favourable  treaties;  France  is  fear- 
ful to  try  interference  alone;  and  Portugal, 
the  only  other  nation  interested,  is  too  weak 
and  too  deeply  in  England's  debt  to  raise  her 
voice  against  anything  that  may  be  done. 

By  leasing  the  town  of  Lorenzo  Marques 
from  the  Portuguese  Government,  Great  Brit- 


254 


OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 


ain  has  acquired  one  of  the  best  strategic 
points  in  South  Africa.  The  lease,  the  terms 
of  which  are  unannounced,  was  the  culmina- 
tion of  much  diplomatic  dickering,  in  which 
the  interests  of  Germany  and  the  South  Afri- 
can Republic  were  arrayed  against  those  of 
England  and  Portugal.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  England  made  the  lease  only  in  order  to 
gain  an  advantage  over  President  Kruger,  and 
to  prevent  him  from  further  fortifying  his 
country  with  munitions  of  war  imported  by 
way  of  Lorenzo  Marques  and  Delagoa  Bay. 
England  gains  a  commercial  advantage  too, 
but  it  is  hardly  likely  that  she  would  care  to 
add  the  worst  fever-hole  in  Africa  to  her  ter- 
ritory simply  to  please  the  few  of  her  mer- 
chants who  have  business  interests  in  the  town. 
Since  the  Jameson  raid  the  Boers  have 
been  purchasing  vast  quantities  of  guns  and 
ammunition  in  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
paring themselves  for  any  similar  emergency. 
Delagoa  Bay  alone  was  an  open  port  to  the 
Transvaal,  every  other  port  in  South  Africa 
being  under  English  dominion  and  conse- 
quently closed  to  the  importation  of  war  ma- 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE      255 

terial.  Lorenzo  Marques,  the  natural  port  of 
the  Transvaal,  is  only  a  short  distance  from 
the  eastern  border  of  that  country,  and  is  con- 
nected with  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  by  a 
railway.  It  was  over  this  railway  that  the 
Boers  were  able  to  carry  the  guns  and  ammu- 
nition with  which  to  fortify  their  country, 
and  England  could  not  raise  a  finger  to  pre- 
vent the  little  republic  from  doing  as  it  pleased. 
Hardly  a  month  has  passed  since  the  raid 
that  the  Transvaal  authorities  did  not  receive 
a  large  consignment  of  guns  and  powder  from 
Germany  and  France  by  way  of  Lorenzo  Mar- 
ques. England  could  do  nothing  more  than 
have  several  detectives  at  the  docks  to  take 
an  inventory  of  the  munitions  as  they  passed 
in  transit. 

The  transfer  of  Lorenzo  Marques  to  the 
British  will  put  an  effectual  bar  to  any  fur- 
ther importation  of  guns  into  the  Transvaal, 
and  will  practically  prevent  any  foreign  assist- 
ance from  reaching  the  Boers  in  the  event  of 
another  war.  Both  Germany  and  England 
tried  for  many  years  to  induce  Portugal  to 
sell  Delagoa  Bay,  but  being  the  debtor  of 


256  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

both  to  a  great  extent,  the  sale  could  not  be 
made  to  one  without  arousing  the  enmity  of 
the  other.  Eighteen  or  twenty  years  ago  Por- 
tugal would  have  sold  her  sovereign  right 
over  the  port  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  Govern- 
ment for  sixty  thousand  dollars,  but  that  was 
before  Delagoa  Bay  had  any  commercial  or 
political  importance.  Since  then  Germany  be- 
came the  political  champion  of  the  Transvaal, 
and  blocked  all  the  schemes  of  England  to 
isolate  the  inland  country  by  cutting  off  its 
only  neutral  connection  with  the  sea.  Re- 
cently, however,  Germany  has  been  disappointed 
by  the  Transvaal  Republic,  and  one  of  the  re- 
sults is  the  present  cordial  relations  between 
the  Teutons  and  the  Anglo-Saxons  in  South 
African  affairs. 

The  English  press  and  people  in  South 
Africa  have  always  asserted  that  by  isolating 
the  Transvaal  from  the  sea  the  Boers  could 
be  starved  into  submission  in  case  of  a  war. 
As  soon  as  the  lease  becomes  effective,  Mr. 
Kruger's  country  will  be  completely  surrounded 
by  English  territory,  at  least  in  such  a  way 
that  nothing  can  be  taken  into  the  Transvaal 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   DEFENCE  257 

without  first  passing  through  an  English  port, 
and  no  foreign  power  will  be  able  to  send 
forces  to  the  aid  of  the  Boers  unless  they  are 
first  landed  on  British  soil.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  any  nation  would  incur  such  a  grave 
responsibility  for  the  sake  of  securing  Boer 
favour. 

Both  the  Transvaal  and  England  are  fully 
prepared  for  war,  and  diplomacy  only  can 
postpone  its  coming.  The  Uitlanders'  present 
demands  may  be  conceded,  but  others  that 
will  follow  may  not  fare  so  well.  A  coveted 
country  will  always  be  the  object  of  attacks 
by  a  stronger  power,  and  the  aggressor  gen- 
erally succeeds  in  securing  from  the  weaker 
victim  whatever  he  desires.  Whether  British 
soldiers  will  be  obliged  to  fight  the  Boers 
alone  in  order  to  gratify  the  wishes  of  their 
Government,  or  whether  the  enemy  will  be 
almost  the  entire  white  and  black  population 
of  South  Africa,  will  not  be  definitely  known 
until  the  British  troop  ships  start  for  Cape 
Town  and  Durban. 

Whichever  enemy  it  will  be,  the  British 
Government  will  attack,  and  will  pursue  in  no 


258  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

half-hearted  or  half-prepared  manner,  as  it  has 
done  in  previous  campaigns  in  the  country. 
The  Boers  will  be  able  to  resist  and  to  pro- 
long the  campaign  to  perhaps  eight  months 
or  a  year,  but  they  will  finally  be  obliterated 
from  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  will 
cost  the  British  Empire  much  treasure  and 
many  lives,  but  it  will  satisfy  those  who  caused 
it — the  politicians  and  speculators. 


CHAPTER   XI 

AMERICAN    INTERESTS    IN    SOUTH    AFRICA 

AN  idea  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  Ameri- 
can enterprise  in  South  Africa  might  be  de- 
duced from  the  one  example  of  a  Boston 
book  agent,  who  made  a  competency  by  sell- 
ing albums  of  United  States  scenery  to  the 
negroes  along  the  shores  of  the  Umkomaas 
River,  near  Zululand.  The  book  agent  is  not 
an  incongruity  of  the  activity  of  Americans  in 
that  part  of  the  continent,  but  an  example 
rather  of  the  diversified  nature  of  the  influ- 
ences which  owe  their  origin  to  the  nation  of 
Yankees  ten  thousand  miles  distant.  The 
Unitdd  States  of  America  have  had  a  deeper 
influence  upon  South  Africa  than  that  which 
pertains  to  commerce  and  trade.  The  progress, 
•growth,  and  prosperity  of  the  American  States 
have  instilled  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of 

South  Africans  a  desire  to  be  free  from  Euro- 

259 


260  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

pean  control,  and  to  be  united  under  a  single 
banner,  which  is  to  bear  the  insignia  of  the 
United  States  of  South  Africa. 

In  public,  editors  and  speechmakers  in 
Cape  Colony,  Natal,  and  the  Transvaal  spend 
hours  in  deploring  the  progress  of  American- 
isms in  South  Africa,  but  in  their  clubs  and 
libraries  they  study  and  discuss  the  causes  which 
led  to  America's  progress  and  pre-eminence, 
and  form  plans  by  which  they  may  be  able  to 
attain  the  same  desirable  ends.  The  influence 
and  example  of  the  United  States  are  not  theo- 
retical; they  are  political  factors  which  are  felt 
in  the  discussion  of  every  public  question  and 
in  the  results  of  every  election.  The  practical 
results  of  American  influence  in  South  Africa 
may  now  be  observed  only  in  the  increasing 
exports  to  that  country,  but  perhaps  in  an- 
other generation  a  greater  and  better  demon- 
stration will  be  found  in  a  constitution  which 
unites  all  the  South  African  states  under  one 
independent  government.  If  any  corrobora- 
tion  of  this  sentiment  were  necessary,  a  state- 
ment made  by  the  man  who  is  leader  of  the 
ruling  party  in  Cape  Colony  would  be  ample. 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  261 

"  If  we  want  an  example  of  the  highest  type 
of  freedom,"  said  W.  P.  Schreiner,  the  present 
Premier  of  Cape  Colony,  "  we  must  look  to 
the  United  States  of  America."  * 

American  influences  are  felt  in  all  phases  of 
South  African  life,  be  they  social,  commercial, 
religious,  political,  or  retrogressive.  Whether 
it  be  the  American  book  agent  on  the  banks 
of  the  Umkomaas,  or  the  American  consul-gen- 
eral in  the  governor's  mansion  at  Cape  Town, 
his  indomitable  energy,  his  breezy  indiffer- 
ence to  apparently  insurmountable  difficulties, 
and  his  boundless  resources  will  always  secure 
for  him  those  material  benefits  for  which  men 
of  other  nationalities  can  do  no  more  than  hope. 
Some  of  his  rivals  call  it  perverseness,  callous- 
ness, trickery,  treachery,  and  what  not;  his  ad- 
mirers might  ascribe  his  success  to  energy, 
pluck,  modern  methods,  or  to  that  quality  best 
described  by  that  Americanism — "  hustling." 

American  commercial  interests  in  South 
Africa  are  of  such  recent  growth,  and  already 
of  such  great  proportions,  that  the  other  na- 


*  Americans'  Fourth  of  July  Banquet,  Cape  Town,  1897. 
IS 


262  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

tions  who  have  been  interested  in  the  trade  for 
many  years  are  not  only  astounded,  but  are 
fearful  that  the  United  States  will  soon  be  the 
controlling  spirit  in  the  country's  commercial 
affairs.  The  enterprise  of  American  business 
firms,  and  their  ability  to  undersell  almost  all 
the  other  firms  represented  in  the  country,  have 
given  an  enormous  impetus  to  the  export  trade 
with  South  African  countries.  Systematic  ef- 
forts have  been  made  by  American  firms  to 
work  the  South  African  markets  on  an  ex- 
tensive scale,  and  so  successful  have  the  efforts 
been  that  the  value  of  exports  to  that  country 
has  several  times  been  more  than  doubled  in  a 
single  year. 

Five  years  ago  America's  share  of  the  busi- 
ness of  South  Africa  was  practically  infinitesi- 
mal; to-day  the  United  States  hold  second 
place  in  the  list  of  nations  which  have  trade 
relations  with  that  country,  having  outranked 
Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Italy. 
In  several  branches  of  trade  America  surpasses 
even  England,  which  has  always  had  all  the 
trade  advantages  owing  to  the  supremacy  of 
her  flag  over  the  greater  part  of  the  country. 


AMERICAN    INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  263 

That  the  British  merchants  are  keenly  alive  to 
the  situation  which  threatens  to  transfer  the 
trade  supremacy  into  American  hands  has  been 
amply  demonstrated  by  the  efforts  which  they 
have  made  to  check  the  inroads  the  Americans 
are  making  on  their  field,  and  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  committees  to  investigate  the  causes 
of  the  decline  of  British  commerce. 

American  enterprise  shows  itself  by  the 
scores  of  representatives  of  American  business 
houses  who  are  constantly  travelling  through 
the  country,  either  to  secure  orders  or  to  in- 
vestigate the  field  with  a  view  of  entering  into 
competition  with  the  firms  of  other  nations. 
Fifteen  American  commercial  travellers,  repre- 
senting as  many  different  firms,  were  regis- 
tered at  the  Grand  Hotel,  Cape  Town,  at  one 
time  a  year  ago,  and  that  all  had  secured  ex- 
ceptionally heavy  orders  indicated  that  the  in- 
novation in  the  method  of  working  trade  was 
successful. 

The  laws  of  the  country  are  unfavourable  in 
no  slight  degree  to  the  foreign  commercial 
travellers,  who  are  obliged  to  pay  heavy  licenses 
before  they  are  permitted  to  enter  upon  any 


264  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

business  negotiations.  The  tax  in  the  Trans- 
vaal and  Natal  is  $48.66,  and  in  the  Orange 
Free  State  and  Cape  Colony  it  amounts  to 
$121.66.  If  an  American  agent  wishes  to  make 
a  tour  of  all  the  states  and  colonies  of  the  coun- 
try, he  is  obliged  to  pay  almost  three  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  in  license  fees. 

The  great  superiority  of  certain  American 
manufactured  products  is  such  that  other  na- 
tions are  unable  to  compete  in  those  lines  after 
the  American  products  have  been  introduced. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  American  machinery, 
which  can  not  be  equalled  by  that  of  any  other 
country.  Almost  every  one  of  the  hundreds 
of  extensive  gold  mines  on  the  Randt  is  fitted 
out  wholly  or  in  part  with  American  machinery, 
and,  at  the  present  rate  of  increase  in  the  use 
of  it,  it  will  be  less  than  ten  years  when  none 
other  than  United  States  machinery  will  be 
sent  to  that  district.  In  visiting  the  great  mines 
the  uninitiated  American  is  astonished  to  find 
that  engines,  crushing  machinery,  and  even  the 
electric  lights  which  illuminate  them,  bear  the 
name  plates  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Chicago  firms. 


AMERICAN    INTERESTS    IN    SOUTH    AFRICA  265 

The  Kimberley  diamond  mines,  which  are 
among  the  most  extensive  and  most  elaborate 
underground  works  in  the  world,  use  Ameri- 
can-made machinery  almost  exclusively,  not 
only  because  it  is  much  less  costly,  but  be- 
cause no  other  country  can  furnish  apparatus 
that  will  give  as  good  results.  Almost  every 
pound  of  electrical  machinery  in  use  in  the 
country  was  made  in  America  and  was  insti- 
tuted by  American  workmen. 

Instances  of  successful  American  electrical 
enterprises  are  afforded  by  the  Cape  Town, 
Port  Elizabeth,  and  Pretoria  street  railways, 
almost  every  rail,  wire,  and  car  of  which  bears 
the  marks  of  American  manufacture.  It  is  a 
marvellous  revelation  to  find  Philadelphia-made 
electric  cars  in  the  streets  of  Cape  Town,  con- 
densing engines  from  New  York  State  in  Port 
Elizabeth,  and  Pittsburg  generators  and  switch- 
boards in  the  capital  of  the  Transvaal,  which 
less  than  fifty  years  ago  wras  under  the  domin- 
ion of  savages.  Not  only  did  Americans  in- 
stall the  street  railways,  but  they  also  secured 
the  desirable  concessions  for  operating  the  lines 
for  a  stated  period.  American  electricians  op- 


266  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

erate  the  plants,  and  in  not  a  few  instances  have 
financially  embarrassed  Americans  received  a 
new  financial  impetus  by  acting  in  the  capacities 
of  motormen  and  conductors. 

One  street  car  in  Cape  Town  was  for  a 
long  time  distinguished  because  of  its  many 
American  features.  The  Philadelphia-made  car 
was  propelled  over  Pittsburg  tracks  by  means 
of  the  power  passing  through  Wilkesbarre  wires, 
and  the  human  agencies  that  controlled  it  were 
a  Boston  motorman  and  a  San  Francisco  con- 
ductor. It  might  not  be  pursuing  the  subject 
too  far  to  add  that  of  the  twelve  passengers  in 
the  car  on  a  certain  journey  ten  were  Americans, 
representing  eight  different  States. 

One  of  the  first  railroads  in  South  Africa — 
that  which  leads  from  Lorenzo  Marques  to  the 
Transvaal  border — was  built  by  an  American, 
a  Mr.  Murdock,  while  American  material  en- 
tered largely  into  the  construction  of  the  more 
extensive  roads  from  the  coast  to  the  interior. 
American  rails  are  more  quickly  and  more 
cheaply  *  obtainable  in  South  Africa  than  those 

*  "  But  the  other  day  we  gave  an  order  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  rails.     We  had  a  large  number  of  tenders, 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  26/ 

of  English  make,  but  the  influence  which  is 
exerted  against  the  use  of  other  than  British 
rails  prevents  their  universal  adoption.  Not- 
withstanding the  efforts  of  the  influential  Eng- 
lishmen to  secure  British  manufactures  wherever 
and  whenever  possible,  American  firms  have  re- 
cently secured  the  contracts  for  forty  thousand 
tons  of  steel  rails  for  the  Cape  Colony  Railway 
system,  and  the  prospects  are  that  more  orders 
of  a  similar  nature  will  be  forthcoming. 

It  is  not  in  the  sale  of  steel  rails  alone  that 
the  American  manufacturer  is  forging  ahead 
of  his  competitors  in  South  Africa.  American 
manufactured  wares  of  all  kinds  are  in  de- 
mand, and  in  many  instances  they  are  leaders 
in  the  market.  Especially  true  is  this  of  Ameri- 
can agricultural  implements,  which  are  so  much 
more  adaptable  to  the  soil  and  much  cheaper 
than  any  other  make.  Small  stores  in  the 

and  the  lowest  tender,  you  may  be  sorry  to  hear,  was  sent 
by  an  American,  Mr.  Carnegie.  Fortunately,  however,  the 
tender  was  not  in  order,  and  we  were  therefore  able  to  give 
the  work  to  our  own  people.  It  may  be  said  that  this 
American  tender  was  a  question  of  workmen  and  strikes." 
— Cecil  J.  Rhodes,  at  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Cape-Cairo  Railway,  London,  May  2,  1899. 


268  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

farming  communities  of  Natal  and  Cape  Col- 
ony sell  American  ploughshares,  spades,  forks, 
rakes,  and  hoes  almost  exclusively,  and  it 
amazes  the  traveller  to  find  that  almost  every 
plough  and  reaper  used  by  the  more  progres- 
sive agriculturists  bears  the  imprint  "  Made  in 
the  United  States." 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that,  although  South 
Africa  has  vast  areas  covered  with  heavy  tim- 
ber, almost  all  the  lumber  used  in  the  mining 
districts  is  transported  thither  from  Puget 
Sound.  The  native  timber  being  unsuited  for 
underground  purposes  and  difficult  of  access, 
all  the  mine  owners  are  obliged  to  import  every 
foot  of  wood  used  in  constructing  surface  and 
underground  works  of  their  mines,  and  at  great 
expense,  for  to  the  original  cost  of  the  timber  is 
added  the  charges  arising  from  the  sea  and  land 
transportation,  import  duties,  and  handling.  The 
docks  at  Cape  Town  almost  all  the  year  round 
contain  one  or  more  lumber  vessels  from  Puget 
Sound,  and  upon  several  occasions  five  such 
vessels  were  being  unloaded  at  the  same  time. 

American  coal,  too,  has  secured  a  foothold 
in  South  Africa,  a  sample  cargo  of  three  thou- 


AMERICAN    INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  269 

sand  tons  having  been  despatched  thither  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year.  Coal  of  good  qual- 
ity is  found  in  several  parts  of  the  Transvaal 
and  Natal,  but  progress  in  the  development  of 
the  mines  has  been  so  slow  that  almost  the 
total  demand  is  supplied  by  Wales.  Cape  Col- 
ony has  an  extensive  petroleum  field,  but  it  is 
in  the  hands  of  concessionaires,  who,  for  rea- 
sons of  their  own,  refuse  to  develop  it.  Ameri- 
can and  Russian  petroleums  are  used  exclu- 
sively, but  the  former  is  preferred,  and  is  rapidly 
crowding  the  other  out  of  the  market. 

Among  the  many  other  articles  of  export 
to  South  Africa  are  flour,  corn,  butter,  pota- 
toes, canned  meats,  and  vegetables — all  of  which 
might  be  produced  in  the  country  if  South 
Africans  took  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
offered  by  soil  and  Nature.  American  live 
stock  has  been  introduced  into  the  country 
since  the  rinderpest  disease  destroyed  almost 
all  of  the  native  cattle,  and  with  such  success- 
ful results  that  several  Western  firms  have  es- 
tablished branches  in  Cape  Town,  and  are 
sending  thither  large  cargoes  of  mules,  horses, 
cattle,  and  sheep.  Cecil  J.  Rhodes  has  re- 


270 


OOM    PAUL'S    PEOPLE 


cently  stocked  his  immense  Rhodesian  farm 
with  American  live  stock,  and,  as  his  example 
is  generally  followed  throughout  the  country,  a 
decided  increase  in  the  live-stock  export  trade 
is  anticipated. 

Statistics  only  can  give  an  adequate  idea 
of  American  trade  with  South  Africa;  but  even 
these  are  not  reliable,  for  the  reason  that 
a  large  percentage  of  the  exports  sent  to  the 
country  are  ordered  through  London  firms, 
and  consequently  do  not  appear  in  the  official 
figures.  As  a  criterion  of  what  the  trade 
amounts  to,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  quote 
a  few  statistics,  which,  however,  do  not  repre- 
sent the  true  totals  for  the  reason  given.  The 
estimated  value  of  the  exports  and  the  percent- 
age increase  of  each  year's  business  over  that 
of  the  preceding  year  is  given,  in  order  that  a 
true  idea  of  the  growth  of  American  trade  with 
South  Africa  may  be  formed: 


YEAR. 

Value. 

Per  cent  in- 
crease. 

1801;..  . 

$5,000,000 

1896         

12,000,000 

140 

1807.    . 

16,000,000 

33i 

1898  (estimated)  

20,000,000 

25 

AMERICAN    INTERESTS   IN    SOUTH   AFRICA  271 

A  fact  that  is  deplored  by  Americans  who 
are  eager  to  see  their  country  in  the  van  in  all 
things  pertaining  to  trade  is  that  almost  every 
dollar's  worth  of  this  vast  amount  of  material 
is  carried  to  South  Africa  in  ships  sailing  under 
foreign  colours.  Three  lines  of  steamships,  hav- 
ing weekly  sailings,  ply  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, and  are  always  laden  to  the  rails  with 
American  goods,  but  the  American  flag  is  car- 
ried by  none  of  them.  A  fourth  line  of  steam- 
ships, to  ply  between  Philadelphia  and  Cape 
Town,  is  about  to  be  established  under  Ameri- 
can auspices,  and  is  to  carry  the  American  flag. 
A  number  of  small  American  sailing  vessels 
trade  between  the  two  countries,  but  their  total 
capacity  is  so  small  as  to  be  almost  insignifi- 
cant when  compared  with  the  great  volume 
carried  in  foreign  bottoms. 

The  American  imports  from  South  Africa 
are  of  far  less  value  than  the  exports,  for  the 
reason  that  the  country  produces  only  a  few 
articles  that  are  not  consumed  where  they 
originate.  America  is  the  best  market  in  the 
world  for  diamonds,  and  about  one  fourth  of 
the  annual  output  of  the  Kimberley  mines 


2/2  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

reaches  the  United  States.  Hides  and  tallow 
constitute  the  leading  exportations  to  Amer- 
ica, while  aloes  and  ostrich  feathers  are  chief 
among  the  few  other  products  sent  here. 
Owing  to  this  lack  of  exports,  ships  going  to 
South  Africa  are  obliged  to  proceed  to  India 
or  Australia  for  return  cargoes  in  order  to  re- 
duce the  expenses  of  the  voyage. 

However  great  the  commercial  interests  of 
the  United  States  in  South  Africa,  they  are 
small  in  comparison  with  the  work  of  indi- 
vidual Americans,  who  have  been  active  in  the 
development  of  that  country  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  Wherever  great  enter- 
prises have  been  inaugurated,  Americans  have 
been  prominently  identified  with  their  growth 
and  development,  and  in  not  a  few  instances 
has  the  success  of  the  ventures  been  wholly 
due  to  American  leadership.  European  capi- 
tal is  the  foundation  of  all  the  great  South  Afri- 
can institutions,  but  it  is  to  American  skill  that 
almost  all  of  them  owe  the  success  which  they 
have  attained. 

British  and  continental  capitalists  have  rec- 
ognised the  superiority  of  American  methods 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  273 

by  intrusting  the  management  of  almost  every 
large  mine  and  industry  to  men  who  were  born 
and  received  their  training  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  an  expression  not  infrequently  heard  when 
the  success  of  a  South  African  enterprise  is 
being  discussed,  "  Who  is  the  Yankee?  "  The 
reason  of  this  is  involved  in  the  fact  that  al- 
most all  the  Americans  who  went  to  South 
Africa  after  the  discovery  of  gold  had  been 
well  fitted  by  their  experiences  in  the  California 
and  Colorado  mining  fields  for  the  work  which 
they  were  called  upon  to  do  on  the  Randt,  and, 
owing  to  their  ability,  were  able  to  compete 
successfully  with  the  men  from  other  countries 
who  were  not  so  skilled. 

Unfortunately,  not  all  the  Americans  in 
South  Africa  have  been  a  credit  to  their  na- 
tive country,  and  there  is  a  considerable  class 
which  has  created  for  itself  an  unenviable  repu- 
tation. The  component  parts  of  this  class  are 
men  who,  by  reason  of  criminal  acts,  were 
obliged  to  leave  America  for  new  fields  of  en- 
deavour, and  non-professional  men  who  follow 
gold  booms  in  all  parts  of  the  world  and  trust 
to  circumstances  for  a  livelihood.  In  the  early 


274  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

days  of  the  Johannesburg  gold  fields  these  men 
oftentimes  resorted  to  desperate  means,  with 
the  result  that  almost  every  criminal  act  of  an 
unusually  daring  description  is  now  credited 
against  them  by  the  orderly  inhabitants.  High- 
waymen, pickpockets,  illicit  gold  buyers,  con- 
fidence men,  and  even  train-robbers  were  active, 
and  for  several  years  served  to  discredit  the 
entire  American  colony.  Since  the  first  gold 
excitement  has  subsided,  this  class  of  Ameri- 
cans, in  which  was  also  included  by  the  resi- 
dents all  the  other  criminal  characters  of  what- 
ever nationality,  has  been  compelled  to  leave 
the  country,  and  to-day  the  American  colony 
in  Johannesburg  numbers  about  three  thousand 
of  the  most  respected  citizens  of  the  city. 

The  American  who  has  been  most  promi- 
nent in  South  African  affairs,  and  the  stanchest 
supporter  of  American  interests  in  that  coun- 
try, is  Gardner  F.  Williams,  the  general  man- 
ager and  one  of  the  alternate  life  governors  of 
the  De  Beers  Consolidated  Diamond  Mines  at 
Kimberley.  A  native  of  Michigan,  Mr.  Williams 
gained  his  mining  experience  in  the  mining  dis- 
tricts of  California  and  other  Western  States,  and 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH    AFRICA  275 

went  to  South  Africa  in  1887  to  take  charge  of 
the  Kimberley  mines,  which  were  then  in  an  al- 
most chaotic  condition.  By  the  application  of 
American  ideas,  Mr.  Williams  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing of  the  mines  a  property  which  yields  an  an- 
nual profit  of  about  ten  million  dollars  on  a 
nominal  capital  of  twice  that  amount.  He  has 
introduced  American  machinery  into  the  mines, 
and  has  been  instrumental  in  many  other  ways 
in  advancing  the  interests  of  his  native  country. 
Although  Mr.  Williams  receives  a  salary  twice 
as  great  as  that  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  he  is  proud  to  be  the  American  con- 
sular agent  at  Kimberley — an  office  which  does 
not  carry  with  it  sufficient  revenue  to  provide 
the  star-spangled  banner  which  constantly  floats 
from  a  staff  in  front  of  his  residence. 

Dr.  J.  Perrott  Prince  is  another  American 
who  has  assisted  materially  in  extending  Ameri- 
can interests  in  South  Africa,  and  it  is  due  to 
his  own  unselfish  efforts  that  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  with  the  port  of  Durban 
has  risen  from  insignificant  volume  to  its  pres- 
ent size.  Dr.  Prince  was  a  surgeon  in  the 
Union  army  during  the  civil  war,  and  after- 


276  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ward  was  one  of  the  first  Americans  to  go  to 
the  Kimberley  diamond  fields.  He  it  was  who 
later  induced  Dr.  Leander  Starr  Jameson  to 
accompany  him  to  Kimberley  in  the  capacity 
of  assistant  surgeon — a  service  which  he  per- 
formed with  great  distinction  until  Mr.  Rhodes 
sent  him  into  Matabeleland  to  take  charge  of 
the  military  forces,  which  later  he  led  into  the 
Transvaal. 

Dr.  Prince's  renown  as  a  physician  was 
responsible  for  a  call  to  Madagascar,  whither 
he  was  summoned  by  Queen  Ranavalo.  He 
remained  in  Madagascar  as  the  queen's  physi- 
cian until  the  French  took  forcible  possession 
of  the  island  and  sent  the  queen  into  exile  on 
the  Reunion  Islands.  Dr.  Prince  has  lived  in 
Durban,  Natal,  for  several  years,  and  during 
the  greater  part  of  that  time  conducted  the  of- 
fice of  American  consular  agent  at  a  financial 
loss  to  himself.  Unfortunately,  Dr.  Prince  was 
obliged  to  end  his  connection  with  the  consu- 
lar service,  and  the  United  States  are  now  rep- 
resented in  Durban  by  a  foreigner,  who  on 
the  last  Fourth  of  July  inquired  why  all  the 
Americans  in  the  city  were  making  such  elab- 


AMERICAN    INTERESTS   IN    SOUTH   AFRICA 


277 


orate  displays  of  bunting  and  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 

The  consular  agent  at  Johannesburg  is  John 
C.  Manion,  of  Herkimer,  N.  Y.,  who  represents 
a  large  American  machinery  company.  Mr. 
Manion,  in  1896,  carried  on  the  negotiations 
with  the  Transvaal  Government  by  which  John 
Hays  Hammond,  an  American  mining  engineer, 
was  released  from  the  Pretoria  prison,  where 
he  had  been  confined  for  complicity  in  the  up- 
rising at  Johannesburg.  American  machinery 
valued  at  several  million  dollars  has  been  sent 
to  South  Africa  as  the  result  of  Mr.  Manion's 
efforts. 

In  the  gold  industry  on  the  Randt,  Ameri- 
cans have  been  specially  active,  and  it  is  due 
to  one  of  them,  J.  S.  Curtis,  that  the  deep- 
level  mines  were  discovered.  In  South  Africa 
a  mining  claim  extends  only  a  specified  dis- 
tance below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  the 
Governments  do  not  allow  claim-owners  to 
dig  beyond  that  depth.  Mr.  Curtis  found  that 
paying  reefs  existed  below  the  specified  depth, 
and  the  result  was  that  the  Government  sold 
the  underground  or  deep-level  claims  with 
19 


2/8  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

great  profit  to  itself  and  the  mining  com- 
munity. 

The  consulting  engineers  of  almost  all  the 
mines  of  any  importance  in  the  country  are 
Americans,  and  their  salaries  range  from  ten 
thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  John  Hays  Hammond,  who  was  one 
of  the  first  American  engineers  to  reach  the 
gold  fields,  was  official  mining  engineer  for 
the  Transvaal  Government,  and  received  a  year- 
ly salary  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for 
formulating  the  mining  laws  of  the  country. 
He  resigned  that  office,  and  is  now  the  con- 
sulting engineer  for  the  British  South  Africa 
Company  in  Rhodesia  and  several  gold  mines 
on  the  Randt,  at  salaries  which  aggregate  al- 
most one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
Among  the  scores  of  other  American  engineers 
on  the  Randt  are  L.  I.  Seymour,  who  has  con- 
trol of  the  thirty-six  shafts  of  the  Randt  Mines; 
Captain  Malan,  of  the  Robinson  mines;  and 
H.  S.  Watson,  of  the  Simmer  en  Jack  mines, 
in  developing  which  more  than  ten  million  dol- 
lars have  been  spent. 

Another  American  introduced  the  system  of 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  279 

treating  the  abandoned  tailings  of  the  mines 
by  the  cyanide  process,  whereby  thousands  of 
ounces  of  gold  have  been  abstracted  from  the 
offal  of  the  mills,  which  had  formerly  been  con- 
sidered valueless.  Others  have  revolutionized 
different  parts  of  the  management  of  the  mines, 
and  in  many  instances  have  taken  abandoned 
properties  and  placed  them  on  a  paying  basis. 
It  would  not  be  fair  to  claim  that  American 
ingenuity  and  skill  are  responsible  for  the  en- 
tire success  of  the  Randt  gold  mines,  but  it  is 
indisputable  that  Americans  have  done  more 
toward  it  than  the  combined  representatives  of 
all  other  nations. 

Every  line  of  business  on  the  Randt  has 
its  American  representatives,  and  almost  with- 
out exception  the  firms  who  sent  them  thither 
chose  able  men.  W.  E.  Parks,  of  Chicago, 
represents  Frazer  &  Chalmers,  whose  machin- 
ery is  in  scores  of  the  mines.  His  assistant  is 
W.  H.  Haig,  of  New  York  city. 

The  American  Trading  and  Importing  Com- 
pany, with  its  headquarters  in  Johannesburg, 
and  branches  in  every  city  and  town  in  the 
country,  deals  exclusively  in  American  manu- 


2go  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

factured  products,  and  annually  sells  immense 
quantities  of  bicycles,  stoves,  beer,  carriages, 
and  other  goods,  ranging  from  pins  to  pianos. 

Americans  do  not  confine  their  endeavours 
to  commercial  enterprises,  and  they  may  be 
found  conducting  missionary  work  among  the 
Matabeles  and  Mashonas,  as  well  as  building 
dams  in  Rhodesia.  American  missionaries  are 
very  active  in  all  parts  of  South  Africa,  and 
because  of  the  practical  methods  by  which  they 
endeavour  to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  na- 
tives they  have  the  reputation  throughout  the 
country  of  being  more  successful  than  those 
who  go  there  from  any  other  country.  In 
the  Rhodesian  country  Mr.  Rhodes  has  given 
many  contributions  of  land  and  money  to  the 
American  missionaries,  and  has  on  several  oc- 
casions complimented  them  by  pronouncing 
their  achievements  unparalleled. 

A  practical  illustration  will  demonstrate  the 
causes  of  the  success  of  the  American  mission- 
ary. An  English  missionary  spent  the  first 
two  years  after  his  arrival  in  the  country  in 
studying  the  natives'  language  and  in  building 
a  house  for  himself.  In  that  time  he  had  made 


AMERICAN   INTERESTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA  281 

no  converts.  An  American  missionary  arrived 
at  almost  the  same  time,  rented  a  hut,  and  hired 
interpreters.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  had 
one  hundred  and  fifty  converts,  many  more 
natives  who  were  learning  useful  occupations 
and  trades,  and  had  sent  home  a  request  for 
more  missionaries  with  which  to  extend  his 
field. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  the  scouts  who 
assisted  in  subduing  the  American  Indians 
should  later  be  found  on  the  African  continent 
to  assist  in  the  extermination  of  the  blacks. 
In  the  Matabele  and  Mashona  campaigns  of 
three  years  ago,  Americans  who  scouted  for 
Custer  and  Miles  on  the  Western  plains  were 
invaluable  adjuncts  to  the  British  forces,  and 
in  many  instances  did  heroic  work  in  finding 
the  location  of  the  enemy  and  in  making  way 
for  the  American  Maxim  guns  that  were  used 
in  the  campaigns. 

The  Americans  in  South  Africa,  although 
only  about  ten  thousand  in  number,  have 
been  of  invaluable  service  to  the  land.  They 
have  taught  the  farmers  to  farm,  the  miners 
to  dig  gold,  and  the  statesmen  to  govern. 


282  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

Their  work  has  been  a  credit  to  the  country 
which  they  continue  to  revere,  and  whose  flag 
they  raise  upon  every  proper  occasion.  They 
have  taken  little  part  in  the  political  disturb- 
ances of  the  Transvaal,  because  they  believe  that 
the  citizens  of  a  republic  should  be  allowed  to 
conduct  its  government  according  to  their  own 
idea  of  right  and  justice,  independently  of  the 
demands  of  those  who  are  not  citizens. 


CHAPTER  XII 

JOHANNESBURG    OF   TO-DAY 

THE  palms  and  bamboos  of  Durban,  the 
Zulu  policemen  and  'ricksha  boys,  and  the 
hospitable  citizens  have  been  left  behind,  and 
the  little  train  of  English  compartment  cars, 
each  with  its  destination  "  Johannesburg "  la- 
belled conspicuously  on  its  sides,  is  winding 
away  through  cane  fields  and  banana  groves, 
past  groups  of  open-eyed  natives  and  solemn, 
thin-faced  Indian  coolies. 

Pretty  little  farmers'  cottages  in  settings 
of  palms,  mimosas,  and  tropical  plants  are 
dotted  in  the  green  valleys  winding  around 
the  innumerable  small  hills  that  look  for  all 
the  world  like  so  many  inverted  moss-covered 
china  cups.  Lumbering  transport  wagons  be- 
hind a  score  of  sleek  oxen,  wincing  under  the 
fire  of  the  far-reaching  rawhide  in  the  hands 

of  a  sparsely   clad   Zulu  driver,   are   met   and 

283 


284  OOM   PAUL>S  PEOPLE 

passed  in  a  twinkling.  Neatly  thatched  huts 
with  natives  lazily  lolling  in  the  sun  become 
more  frequent  as  the  train  rolls  on  toward 
the  interior,  and  the  greenness  of  the  land- 
scape is  changing  into  the  brown  of  dead  ver- 
dure, for  it  is  the  dry  season — the  South  Afri- 
can winter.  The  hills  become  more  frequent, 
and  the  little  locomotive  goes  more  slowly, 
while  the  train  twists  and  writhes  along  its 
path  like  a  huge  python. 

Now  it  is  on  the  hilltop  from  which  the 
distant  sea  and  its  coast  fringe  of  green  are 
visible  on  the  one  side,  and  nothing  but  tree- 
less brown  mountain  tops  on  the  other.  A 
minute  later  it  plunges  down  the  hillside,  along 
rocky  precipices,  over  deep  chasms,  and  then 
wearily  plods  up  the  zigzag  course  of  another 
hillside.  For  five  hours  or  more  the  monot- 
ony of  miniature  mountains  continues,  relieved 
by  nothing  more  interesting  than  the  noise 
of  the  train  and  the  hilarious  laughter  and 
weird  songs  of  a  car  load  of  Zulus  bound  for 
the  gold  fields.  After  this  comes  an  undulat- 
ing plain  and  towns  with  far  less  interest  in 
their  appearance  than  in  their  names.  The 


Zulu  maidens  shaking  hands. 


JOHANNESBURG  OF  TO-DAY  285 

traveller  surfeited  with  Natal  scenery  finds 
amusement  and  diversion  in  the  conductor's  call 
of  Umbilo,  Umkomaas,  Umgeni,  Amanzimtoti, 
Isipingo,  Mooi  River,  Zwartkop,  or  Pieter- 
maritzburg,  but  will  not  attempt  to  learn  the 
proper  pronunciation  of  the  names  unless  he 
has  weeks  at  his  command. 

Farther  on  in  the  journey  an  ostrich,  escaped 
from  a  farm,  stalks  over  the  plain,  and,  ap- 
proaching to  within  several  yards  of  the  train, 
jogs  along  for  many  miles,  and  perchance 
wheedles  the  engineer  into  impromptu  races. 
Hardly  has  the  bird  disappeared  when  on  the 
wide  veldt  a  herd  of  buck  galloping  with  their 
long  heads  down,  or  a  large  number  of  wilde- 
beest, plunging  and  jumping  like  animated 
hobby-horses,  raise  clouds  of  dust  as  they  dash 
away  from  the  monster  of  iron  and  steam. 
Shortly  afterward  the  train  passes  a  waterfall 
almost  thrice  as  lofty  as  Niagara,  but  located 
in  the  middle  of  the  plain,  into  whose  surface 
the  water  has  riven  a  deep  and  narrow  chasm. 

Since  the  balmy  Indian  Ocean  has  been 
left  behind,  the  train  has  been  rising  steadily, 
sometimes  an  inch  in  a  mile  but  oftener  a 


286  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

hundred  feet,  and  the  air  has  grown  cooler. 
The  thousands  of  British  soldiers  at  Ladysmith 
are  wearing  heavy  clothing;  their  horses,  teth- 
ered in  the  open  air,  are  shivering,  and  far 
to  the  westward  is  the  cause  of  it  all — the 
lofty,  snow-covered  peaks  of  the  Dragon 
Mountain.  Night  comes  on  and  clothes  the 
craggy  mountains  and  broken  valleys  with 
varying  shades  of  sombreness.  The  moon  out-- 
lines  the  snow  far  above,  and  with  its  rays 
marks  the  lofty  line  where  sky  and  mountain 
crest  seem  to  join.  Morning  light  greets  the 
train  as  it  dashes  down  the  mountain  side, 
through  the  passes  that  connect  Natal  with 
the  Transvaal  and  out  upon  the  withered  grass 
of  the  flat,  uninteresting  veldt  of  the  Boer 
country. 

The  South  African  veldt  in  all  its  winter 
hideousness  lies  before  you.  It  stretches  out 
in  all  directions — to  the  north  and  south,  to 
the  east  and  west — and  seems  to  have  no  bound- 
aries. Its  yellowish  brownness  eats  into  the 
brain,  and  the  eyes  grow  weary  from  the  mo- 
notony of  the  scene.  Hour  after  hour  the 
train  bears  onward  in  a  straight  line,  but  the 


JOHANNESBURG  OF   TO-DAY  287 

landscape  remains  the  same.  But  for  noises 
and  motions  of  the  cars  you  would  imagine 
that  the  train  was  stationary,  so  far  as  change 
of  scenery  is  concerned.  Occasionally  a  colony 
of  huge  ant-heaps  or  a  few  buck  or  deer  may 
be  passed,  but  for  hours  it  is  veldt,  veldt, 
veldt!  An  entire  day's  journey,  unrelieved 
except  toward  the  end  by  a  few  straggling 
towns  of  Boer  farmhouses  or  the  sheet-iron 
cabins  of  prospectors,  bring  it  to  Heidelberg, 
once  the  metropolis  as  well  as  the  capital  of 
the  republic,  but  now  pining  because  the  for- 
mer distinguishing  mark  has  been  yielded  to 
its  neighbour,  Johannesburg. 

As  the  shades  of  another  night  commence 
to  fall,  the  veldt  suddenly  assumes  a  new  coun- 
tenance. Lights  begin  to  sparkle,  buildings 
close  together  appear,  and  scores  of  tall  smoke-  ' 
stacks  tower  against  the  background  of  the 
sky.  The  presence  of  the  smoke-stacks  denote 
the  arrival  at  the  Randt,  and  for  twenty  miles 
the  train  rushes  along  this  well-defined  gold- 
yielding  strip  of  land.  Buildings,  lights,  stacks, 
and  people  become  more  numerous  as  the  train 
progresses  into  the  city  limits  of  Johannes- 


288  OOM   PAUL'S  PEOPLE 

burg,  and  the  traveller  soon  finds  himself  in 
the  middle  of  a  crowd  of  enthusiastic  welcom- 
ing and  welcomed  persons  on  the  platform  of 
the  station  of  the  Nederlandsche  Zuid-Afri- 
kaansche  Spoorweg-Maatschappij,  and  in  the 
Golden  City. 

The  sudden  change  from  the  dreary  life- 
lessness  of  the  veldt  to  the  exciting  crush  and 
bustle  of  the  station  platform  crowd  is  almost 
bewildering,  because  it  is  so  different  from 
what  is  expected  in  interior  Africa.  The  sta- 
tion, a  magnificent  structure  of  stone  and 
iron,  presents  more  animated  scenes  whenever 
trains  arrive  than  the  Grand  Central  in  New 
York  or  the  Victoria  in  London,  because 
every  passenger  is  invariably  met  at  the  train 
by  all  his  friends  and  as  many  of  their  friends 
as  the  station  platform  will  accommodate. 
The  crowd  which  surges  around  this  centre 
of  the  city's  life  is  of  a  more  cosmopolitan 
character  than  that  which  can  be  found  in  any 
other  city  in  the  world  with  the  exceptions 
of  Zanzibar  and  Port  Said.  Almost  every  race 
is  represented  in  the  gathering,  which  is  sug- 
gestive of  a  mass  meeting  of  the  villagers  of 


JOHANNESBURG  OF  TO-DAY  289 

the  Midway  Plaisance  at  the  Columbian  Ex- 
position. In  the  crowd  are  stolid  Anglo- 
Saxons  shaking  hands  effusively;  enthusiastic 
Latins  embracing  each  other;  negroes  rubbing 
noses  and  cheeks;  smiling  Japanese;  cold,  stern 
Chinese;  Cingalese,  Russians,  Malays,  and 
Egyptians — all  in  their  national  costumes,  and 
all  welcoming  friends  in  their  native  manner 
and  language.  Meandering  through  the  crowd 
are  several  keen-eyed  Boer  policemen,  com- 
monly called  "  Zarps,"  politely  directing  the 
attention  of  innocent-looking  newcomers  to 
placards  bearing  the  inscription  "  Pas  op  Zak- 
kenrollers,"  which  is  the  Boer  warning  of 
pickpockets. 

After  the  traveller  has  forced  a  way  through 
the  crowd  he  is  attacked  by  a  horde  of  cab- 
men who  can  teach  tricks  of  the  trade  to 
the  London  and  New  York  night-hawks. 
Their  equipages  range  from  dilapidated 
broughams  to  antique  'rickshas,  but  their 
charges  are  the  same — "  a  quid,"  or  five  dol- 
lars, either  for  a  mile  or  a  minute's  ride.  After 
the  insults  which  follow  a  refusal  to  enter 
one  of  their  conveyances  have  subsided,  the 


290  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

agents  of  the  hotels  commence  a  vociferous 
campaign  against  the  newcomers,  and  very 
clever  it  is  in  its  way.  They  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish a  foreigner  at  one  glance,  and  will 
change  the  name  of  the  hotel  which  they  rep- 
resent a  score  of  times  in  as  many  seconds  in 
order  to  bag  their  quarry.  For  the  patriotic 
American  they  have  the  New  York  Hotel,  the 
Denver  House,  the  Hotel  California,  and  many 
other  hostelries  named  after  American  cities. 
"  Hey,  Yank!  "  they  will  salute  an  American, 
"  Come  up  to  the  New  York  Hotel  and  patron- 
ize American  enterprise."  If  the  traveller  will 
accompany  one  of  these  agents  he  will  find  that 
all  the  names  apply  to  one  hotel,  which  has  an 
American  name  but  is  conducted  and  patronized 
by  a  low  class  of  foreigners.  The  victim  of  mis- 
representation will  seek  another  hotel,  and 
will  be  fortunate  if  he  finds  comfortable  quar- 
ters for  less  than  ten  dollars  a  day,  or  three 
times  the  amount  he  would  be  called  upon 
to  pay  at  a  far  better  hotel  in  any  American 
city  of  equal  size.  The  privilege  of  fasting,  or 
of  awakening  in  the  morning  with  a  layer  of 
dust  an  eighth  of  an  inch  deep  on  the  coun- 


JOHANNESBURG  OF   TO-DAY  29! 

terpane  and  on  the  face  may  be  ample  return 
for  the  extraordinary  charges,  but  the  stranger 
in  the  city  is  not  apt  to  adopt  that  view  of 
the  situation  until  he  is  acclimated. 

The  person  who  has  spent  several  days  in 
crossing  the  veldt  and  enters  Johannesburg 
by  night  has  a  strange  revelation  before  him 
when  he  is  awakened  the  following  morning. 
He  has  been  led  to  believe  that  the  city  is  a 
motley  collection  of  corrugated-iron  hovels, 
hastily  constructed  cabins,  and  cheap  public 
buildings.  Instead  he  finds  a  beautiful  city, 
with  well-paved  streets,  magnificent  buildings 
of  stone  and  brick,  expensive  public  buildings, 
and  scores  of  palatial  residences.  Many  Ameri- 
can cities  of  the  same  size  and  many  times 
older  can  not  show  as  costly  buildings  or  as 
fine  public  works.  Hotels  of  five  and  six 
stories,  and  occupying,  in  several  instances,  al- 
most entire  blocks,  are  numerous;  of  office 
buildings  costing  a  quarter  of  a  million  dol- 
lars each  there  are  half  a  score;  banks,  shops, 
and  newspapers  have  three-  and  four-story 
buildings  of  brick  and  stone,  while  there  are 
hundreds  of  other  buildings  that  would  be 


292  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

creditable  to  any  large  city  in  America  or* 
Europe.  The  Government  Building  in  the 
centre  of  the  city  is  a  five-story  granite  struc- 
ture of  no  mean  architectural  beauty.  In  the 
suburbs  are  many  magnificent  private  resi- 
dences of  mine  owners  and  managers  who, 
although  not  permanent  residents  of  the  city, 
have  invested  large  amounts  of  money,  so  that 
the  short  time  they  spend  in  the  country  may 
be  amid  luxurious  and  comfortable  surround- 
ings. 

One  of  the  disagreeable  features  of  living 
in  Johannesburg  is  the  dust  which  is  present 
everywhere  during  the  dry  season.  It  rises  in 
great,  thick  clouds  on  the  surrounding  veldt, 
and,  obscuring  the  sun,  wholly  envelops  the 
city  in  semi-darkness.  One  minute  the  air  is 
clear  and  there  is  not  a  breath  of  wind;  sev- 
eral minutes  later  a  hurricane  is  blowing  and 
blankets  of  dust  are  falling.  The  dust  clouds 
generally  rise  west  of  the  city,  and  almost  to- 
tally eclipse  the  sun  during  their  progress 
over  the  plain.  Sometimes  the  dust  storms 
continue  only  a  few  minutes,  but  very  fre- 
quently the  citizens  are  made  uncomfortable 


JOHANNESBURG  OF   TO-DAY  293 

by  them  for  days  at  a  time.  Whenever  they 
arrive,  the  doors  and  windows  of  buildings  are 
tightly  closed,  '  business  is  practically  at  a 
standstill,  and  every  one  is  miserable.  There 
is  no  escape  from  it.  It  penetrates  every 
building,  however  well  protected,  and  it  lodges 
in  the  food  as  well  as  in  the  drink.  Pedestrians 
on  the  street  are  unable  to  see  ten  feet  ahead, 
and  are  compelled  to  walk  with  head  bowed 
and  with  handkerchief  over  the  mouth  and  nos- 
trils. Umbrellas  and  parasols  are  but  slight 
protection  against  it.  Only  the  miners,  a 
thousand  feet  below  the  surface,  escape  it. 
When  the  storm  has  subsided  the  entire  city 
is  covered  with  a  blanket  of  dust  ranging  in 
thickness  from  an  inch  on  the  sidewalks  to  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  on  the  store  counters,  fur- 
niture, and  in  pantries.  It  has  never  been  com- 
puted how  great  a  quantity  of  the  dust  enters 
a  man's  lungs,  but  the  feeling  that  it  engen- 
ders is  one  of  colossal  magnitude. 

Second  to  the  dust,  the  main  characteris- 

•  tic  of  Johannesburg  is   the  inhabitants'   great 

struggle    for    sudden    wealth.     It    is    doubtful 

whether  there  is  one  person  in  the  city  whose 


20 


294  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

ambition  is  less  than  to  become  wealthy  in 
five  years  at  least,  and  then  to  return  to  his 
native  country.  It  is  not  a  chase  after  afflu- 
ence; it  is  a  stampede  in  which  every  soul  in 
the  city  endeavours  to  be  in  the  van.  In  the 
city  and  in  the  mines  there  are  hundreds  of 
honourable  ways  of  becoming  rich,  but  there 
are  thousands  of  dishonourable  ones;  and  the 
morals  of  a  mining  city  are  not  always  on  the 
highest  plane.  There  are  business  men  of  the 
strictest  probity  and  honesty,  and  men  whose 
word  is  as  good  as  their  bond,  but  there  are 
many  more  who  will  allow  their  conscience  to 
lie  dormant  so  long  as  they  remain  in  the 
country.  With  them  the  passion  is  to  secure 
money,  and  whether  they  secure  it  by  over- 
charging a  regular  customer,  selling  illicit  gold, 
or  gambling  at  the  stock  exchanges  is  a  mat- 
ter of  small  moment.  Tradesmen  and  shop- 
keepers will  charge  according  to  the  apparel 
of  the  patron,  and  will  brazenly  acknowledge 
doing  so  if  reminded  by  the  one  who  has  paid 
two  prices  for  like  articles  the  same  day. 
Hotels  charge  according  to  the  quantity  of 
the  traveller  carries,  and  boarding- 


JOHANNESBURG   OF   TO-DAY  295 

houses  compute  your  wealth  before  presenting 
their  bills.  Street-car  fares  and  postage  stamps 
alone  do  not  fluctuate  in  value,  but  the  wise 
man  counts  his  change. 

The  experiences  of  an  American  with  one 
large  business  house  in  the  city  will  serve  as 
an  example  of  the  methods  of  some  of  those 
who  are  eager  to  realize  their  ambitions.  The 
American  spent  many  weeks  and  much  patience 
and  money  in  securing  photographs  through- 
out the  country,  and  took  the  plates  to  a 
large  firm  in  Johannesburg  for  development 
and  printing.  When  he  returned  two  weeks 
later  he  was  informed  that  the  plates  and 
prints  had  been  delivered  a  week  before,  and 
neither  prayers  nor  threats  secured  a  different 
answer.  Justice  in  the  courts  is  slow  and 
costly,  and  the  American  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  country  without  his  property.  Shortly 
after  his  departure  the  firm  of  photographers 
commenced  selling  a  choice  collection  of  new 
South  African  photographs  which,  curiously, 
were  of  the  same  scenes  and  persons  photo- 
graphed by  the  American. 

Gambling   may   be   more   general   in    some 


296  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

other  cities,  but  it  can  not  be  more  public. 
The  more  refined  gamblers  patronize  the  two 
stock  exchanges,  and  there  are  but  few  too 
poor  to  indulge  in  that  form  of  dissipation. 
Probably  nine  tenths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city  travel  the  stock-exchange  bypath  to 
wealth  or  poverty.  Women  and  boys  are  as 
much  infected  by  the  fever  as  mine  owners  and 
managers,  and  it  would  not  be  slandering  the 
citizens  to  say  that  one  fourth  of  the  conver- 
sation heard  on  the  streets  refers  to  the  rise 
and  fall  of  stocks. 

The  popular  gathering  place  in  the  city  is 
the  street  in  front  of  one  of  the  stock  ex- 
changes known  as  "  The  Chains."  During 
the  session  of  the  exchange  the  street  is 
crowded  with  an  excited  throng  of  men,  boys, 
and  even  women,  all  flushed  with  the  excite- 
ment of  betting  on  the  rise  and  fall  of  mining 
stocks  in  the  building.  Clerks,  office  boys,  and 
miners  spend  the  lunch  hour  at  "  The  Chains," 
either  to  invest  their  wages  or  to  watch  the 
market  if  their  money  is  already  invested.  A 
fall  in  the  value  of  stocks  is  of  far  greater  mo- 
ment to  them  than  war,  famine,  or  pestilence. 


JOHANNESBURG   OF   TO-DAY  297 

The  passion  for  gambling  is  also  satisfied 
by  a  giant  lottery  scheme  known  as  "  Sweep- 
stakes," which  has  the  sanction  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Thousands  of  pounds  are  offered  as 
prizes  at  the  periodical  drawings,  and  no  true 
Johannesburger  ever  fails  to  secure  at  least 
one  ticket  for  the  drawing.  When  there  are 
no  sessions  of  the  stock  exchanges,  no  sweep- 
stakes, horse  races,  ball  games,  or  other  usual 
opportunities  for  gambling,  they  will  bet  on 
the  arrival  of  the  Cape  train,  the  length  of  a 
sermon,  or  the  number  of  lashes  a  negro 
criminal  can  endure  before  fainting. 

Drinking  is  a  second  diversion  which  oc- 
cupies much  of  the  time  of  the  average  citizen, 
because  of  the  great  heat  and  the  lack  of 
amusement.  The  liquor  that  is  drunk  in  Jo- 
hannesburg in  one  year  would  make  a  stream 
o(  larger  proportions  and  far  more  healthier 
contents  than  the  Vaal  River  in  the  dry  sea- 
son. It  is  a  rare  occurrence  to  see  a  man 
drink  water  unless  it  is  concealed  in  brandy, 
and  at  night  it  is  even  rarer  that  one  is  seen 
who  is  not  drinking.  Cape  Smoke,  the  name 
given  to  a  liquor  made  in  Cape  Colony,  is 


298  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

credited  with  the  ability  to  kill  a  man  before 
he  has  taken  the  glass  from  his  lips,  but  the 
popular  Uitlander  beverage,  brandy  and  soda, 
is  even  more  fatal  in  its  effects.  Pure  liquor 
is  almost  unobtainable,  and  death-dealing  coun- 
terfeits from  Delagoa  Bay  are  the  substitutes. 
Twenty-five  cents  for  a  glass  of  beer  and  fifty 
cents  for  brandy  and  soda  are  not  deterrent 
prices  where  ordinary  mine  workers  receive 
ten  dollars  a  day  and  mine  managers  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year. 

Of  social  life  there  is  little  except  such  as 
is  afforded  by  the  clubs,  of  which  there  are 
several  of  high  standing.  The  majority  of  the 
men  left  their  families  in  their  native  countries 
on  account  of  the  severe  climate,  and  that  fact, 
combined  with  the  prevalent  idea  that  the 
weather  is  too  torrid  to  do  anything  unneces- 
sary, is  responsible  for  Johannesburg's  lack  of 
social  amenity.  There  are  occasional  dances 
and  receptions,  but  they  are  participated  in 
only  by  newcomers  who  have  not  yet  fallen 
under  the  spell  of  the  South  African  sun.  The 
Sunday  night's  musical  entertainments  at  the 
Wanderer's  Club  are  practically  the  only  affairs 


JOHANNESBURG  OF   TO-DAY  299 

to  which  the  average  Uitlander  cares  to  go, 
because  he  can  clothe  himself  for  comfort  and 
be  as  dignified  or  as  undignified  as  he  pleases. 

The  true  Johannesburger  is  the  most  in- 
dependent man  in  the  world.  When  he  meets 
a  native  on  the  sidewalk  he  promptly  kicks 
him  into  the  street,  and  if  the  action  is  re- 
sented, bullies  a  Boer  policeman  into  arresting 
the  offender.  The  policeman  may  demur  and 
call  the  Johannesburger  a  "  Verdomde  rooinek," 
but  he  will  make  the  arrest  or  receive  a  drub- 
bing. He  may  be  arrested  in  turn,  but  he  is 
ever  willing  and  anxious  to  pay  a  fine  for  the 
privilege  of  beating  a  "  dumb  Dutchman,"  as 
he  calls  him.  He  pays  little  attention  to  the 
laws  of  the  country,  because  he  has  not  had 
the  patience  to  learn  what  they  consist  of, 
and  he  rests  content  in  knowing  that  his  home 
government  will  rescue  him  through  diplo- 
matic channels  if  he  should  run  counter  to  the 
laws.  He  cares  nothing  concerning  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  city  except  as  it  interferes  with 
or  assists  his  own  private  interests,  but  he  will 
take  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  defy 
the  authority  of  the  administrators  of  the  laws. 


300  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

He  despises  the  Boers,  and  continually  and 
maliciously  ridicules  them  on  the  slightest  pre- 
texts. Specially  true  is  this  of  those  news- 
papers which  are  the  representatives  of  the  Uit- 
lander  population.  Venomous  editorials  against 
the  Boer  Government  and  people  appear  al- 
most daily,  and  serve  to  widen  the  breach  be- 
tween the  two  classes  of  inhabitants.  The 
Boer  newspapers  for  a  long  time  ignored  the 
assaults  of  the  Uitlander  press,  but  recently 
they  have  commenced  to  retaliate,  and  the 
editorial  war  is  a  bitter  one.  An  extract  from 
the  Randt  Post  will  show  the  nature  and  depth 
of  bitterness  displayed  by  the  two  classes  of 
newspapers: 

"  Though  Dr.  Leyds  may  be  right,  and 
the  Johannesburg  population  safe  in  case  of 
war,  we  advise  that,  at  the  first  act  of  war 
on  the  English  side,  the  women  and  children, 
and  well-disposed  persons  of  this  town,  be 
given  twenty-four  hours  to  leave,  and  then  the 
whole  place  be  shot  down;  in  the  event,  we  re- 
peat— which  God  forbid! — of  war  coming. 

"  If,  indeed,  there  must  be  shooting,  then 
it  will  be  on  account  of  seditious  words  and 


JOHANNESBURG  OF    TO-DAY  301 

deeds  of  Johannesburg  agitators  and  the  co- 
shareholders  in  Cape  Town  and  London,  and 
the  struggle  will  be  promoted  for  no  other 
object  than  the  possession  of  the  gold.  Well, 
then,  let  such  action  be  taken  that  the  per- 
petrators of  these  turbulent  proceedings  shall, 
if  caught,  be  thrown  into  the  deep  shafts  of 
their  mines,  with  the  debris  of  the  batteries 
for  a  costly  shroud,  and  that  the  whole  of 
Johannesburg,  with  the  exception  of  the  Afri- 
kander wards,  be  converted  into  a  gigantic  rub- 
bish heap  to  serve  as  a  mighty  tombstone  for 
the  shot-down  authors  of  a  monstrous  deed. 

"  If  it  be  known  that  these  valuable  buildings 
and  the  lives  of  the  wire-pullers  are  the  price 
of  the  mines,  then  people  will  take  good  heed 
before  the  torch  of  war  is  set  alight.  Friendly 
talks  and  protests  are  no  use  with  England. 
Let  force  and  rough  violence  be  opposed  to 
the  intrigues  and  plots  of  Old  England,  and 
only  then  will  the  Boer  remain  master." 

It  is  on  Saturday  nights  that  the  bitterness 
of  the  Uitlander  population  is  most  noticeable, 
since  then  the  workers  from  the  mines  along 
the  Randt  gather  in  the  city  and  discuss  their 


302  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

grievances,  which  then  become  magnified  with 
every  additional  glass  of  liquor.  It  is  then 
that  the  city  streets  and  places  of  amusement 
and  entertainment  are  crowded  with  a  throng 
that  finds  relaxation  by  abusing  the  Boers. 
The  theatre  audiences  laugh  loudest  at  the 
coarsest  jests  made  at  the  expense  of  the 
Boers,  and  the  bar-room  crowds  talk  loudest 
when  the  Boers  are  the  subject  of  discussion. 
The  abuse  continues  even  when  the  not-too- 
sober  Uitlander,  wheeled  homeward  at  day- 
break by  his  faithful  Zulu  'ricksha  boy,  casts 
imprecations  upon  the  Boer  policeman  who  is 
guarding  his  property. 

Johannesburg  is  one  of  the  most  expensive 
places  of  residence  in  the  world.  Situated  in 
the  interior  of  the  continent,  thousands  of 
miles  distant  from  the  sources  of  food  and 
supplies,  it  is  natural  that  commodities  should 
be  high  in  price.  Almost  all  food  stuffs  are 
carried  thither  from  America,  Europe,  and 
Australia,  and  consequently  the  original  cost 
is  trebled  by  the  addition  of  carriage  and 
customs  duties.  The  most  common  articles 
of  food  are  twice  as  costly  as  in  America, 


JOHANNESBURG   OF   TO-DAY  303 

while  such  commodities  as  eggs,  imported  from 
Madeira,  frequently  are  scarce  at  a  dollar  a 
dozen.  Butter  from  America  is  fifty  cents  a 
pound,  and  fruits  and  vegetables  from  Cape 
Colony  and  Natal  are  equally  high  in  price  and 
frequently  unobtainable.  Good  board  can  not 
be  obtained  anywhere  for  less  than  five  dollars 
a  day,  while  the  best  hotels  and  clubs  charge 
thrice  that  amount.  Rentals  are  exceptionally 
high  owing  to  the  extraordinary  land  values  and 
the  cost  of  erecting  buildings.  A  small,  brick- 
lined,  corrugated-iron  cottage  of  four  rooms, 
such  as  a  married  mine-employee  occupies, 
costs  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  dollars  a  month, 
while  a  two-story  brick  house  in  a  respectable 
quarter  of  the  city  rents  for  one  hundred  dol- 
lars a  month. 

Every  object  in  the  city  is  mutely  expres- 
sive of  a  vast  expenditure  of  money.  The  idea 
that  everything — the  buildings,  food,  horses, 
clothing,  machinery,  and  all  that  is  to  be  seen 
— has  been  carried  across  oceans  and  conti- 
nents unconsciously  associates  itself  with  the 
cost  that  it  has  entailed.  Four-story  build- 
ings that  in  New  York  or  London  would  be 


304  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

passed  without  remark  cause  mental  specula- 
tion concerning  their  cost,  merely  because  it 
is  so  patent  that  every  brick,  nail,  and  board 
in  them  has  been  conveyed  thousands  of  miles 
from  foreign  shores.  Electric  lights  and  street 
cars,  so  common  in  American  towns,  appear 
abnormal  in  the  city  in  the  veldt,  and  instantly 
suggest  an  outlay  of  great  amounts  of  money 
even  to  the  minds  which  are  not  accustomed 
to  reducing  everything  to  dollars  and  pounds. 
Leaving  the  densely  settled  centre  of  the 
city,  where  land  is  worth  as  much  as  choice 
plots  on  Broadway,  and  wandering  into  the  sub- 
urbs where  the  great  mines  are,  the  idea  of 
cost  is  more  firmly  implanted  into  the  mind. 
The  huge  buildings,  covering  acres  of  ground 
and  thousands  of  tons  of  the  most  costly  ma- 
chinery, seem  to  be  of  natural  origin  rather 
than  of  human  handiwork.  It  is  almost  be- 
yond belief  that  men  should  be  daring  enough 
to  convey  hundreds  of  steamer  loads  of  lumber 
and  machinery  halfway  around  the  world  at  in- 
estimable cost  merely  for  the  yellow  metal  that 
Nature  has  hidden  so  far  distant  from  the  great 
centres  of  population. 


JOHANNESBURG  OF   TO-DAY  305 

The  cosmopolitanism  of  the  city  is  a  feature 
which  impresses  itself  most  indelibly  upon  the 
mind.  In  a  half-day's  stroll  in  the  city  repre- 
sentatives of  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  the  American  Indian, 
Eskimos,  and  South  Sea  islanders,  will  be  seen 
variously  engaged  in  the  struggle  for  gold. 
On  the  floors  of  the  stock  exchanges  are  money 
barons  or  their  agents,  as  energetic  and  sharp 
as  their  prototypes  of  Wall  and  Throckmor- 
ton  Streets.  These  are  chiefly  British,  French, 
and  German.  Outside,  between  "  The  Chains," 
are  readily  discernible  the  distinguishing  fea- 
tures of  the  Americans,  Afrikanders,  Portu- 
guese, Russians,  Spaniards,  and  Italians.  A 
few  steps  distant  is  Commissioner  Street,  the 
principal  thoroughfare,  where  the  surging 
throng  is  composed  of  so  many  different  racial 
representatives  that  an  analysis  of  it  is  not  an 
easy  undertaking.  He  is  considered  an  expert 
who  can  name  the  native  country  of  every  man 
on  the  street,  and  if  he  can  distinguish  between 
an  American  and  a  Canadian  he  is  credited 
with  being  a  wise  man. 

In  the  throng  is  the  tall,  well-clothed  Brit- 


306  OOM    PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

on,  with  silk  hat  and  frock  coat,  closely  fol- 
lowed by  a  sparsely  clad  Matabele,  bearing  his 
master's  account  books  or  golf-sticks.  Near 
them  a  Chinaman,  in  circular  red-topped  hat 
and  flowing  silk  robes,  is  having  a  heated  ar- 
gument in  broken  English  with  an  Irish  han- 
som-driver. Crossing  the  street  are  two  stately 
Arabs,  in  turbans  and  white  robes,  jostling  easy- 
going Indian  coolies  with  their  canes.  Bare- 
headed Cingalese,  their  long,  shiny  hair  tied 
in  knots  and  fastened  down  with  circular  combs, 
noiselessly  gliding  along,  or  stopping  suddenly 
to  trade  Oriental  jewelry  for  Christian's  money; 
Malays,  Turks,  Egyptians,  Persians,  and  New- 
Zealanders,  each  with  his  distinctive  costume; 
Hottentots,  Matabeles,  Zulus,  Mashonas,  Basu- 
tos,  and  the  representatives  of  hundreds  of  the 
other  native  races  south  of  the  Zambezi  pass 
by  in  picturesque  lack  of  bodily  adornment. 

It  is  an  imposing  array,  too,  for  the  major- 
ity of  the  throng  is  composed  of  moderately 
wealthy  persons,  and  even  in  the  centre  of 
Africa  wealth  carries  with  it  opportunities  for 
display.  John  Chinaman  will  ride  in  a  'ricksha 
to  his  joss-house  with  as  much  conscious  pride 


JOHANNESBURG   OF   TO-DAY  307 

as  the  European  or  American  will  sit  in  his 
brougham  or  automobile.  Money  is  as  easily 
spent  as  made  in  Johannesburg,  and  it  is  a 
cosmopolitan  habit  to  spend  it  in  a  manner 
so  that  everybody  will  know  it  is  being  spent. 
To  make  a  display  of  some  sort  is  necessary  to 
the  citizen's  happiness.  If  he  is  not  of  sufficient 
importance  to  have  his  name  in  the  subsidized 
newspapers  daily  he  will  seek  notoriety  by 
wearing  a  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  diamonds 
on  the  street  or  making  astonishing  bets  at 
the  race-track.  In  that  little  universe  on  the 
veldt  every  man  tries  to  be  superior  to  his 
neighbour  in  some  manner  that  may  be  patent 
to  all  the  city.  When  it  is  taken  into  consid- 
eration that  almost  all  the  contestants  were 
among  the  cleverest  and  shrewdest  men  in  the 
countries  whence  they  came  to  Johannesburg, 
and  not  among  the  riffraff  and  failures,  then 
the  intensity  of  the  race  for  superiority  can  be 
imagined. 

Johannesburg  might  be  named  the  City  of 
Surprises.  Its  youthful  existence  has  been 
fraught  with  astonishing  works.  It  was  born 
in  a  day,  and  one  day's  revolution  almost  ended' 


308  OOM   PAUL'S   PEOPLE 

its  existence.  It  grew  from  the  desert  veldt 
into  a  garden  of  gold.  Its  granite  residences, 
brick  buildings,  and  iron  and  steel  mills  sprang 
from  blades  of  grass  and  sprigs  of  weeds.  It 
has  transformed  the  beggar  into  a  millionaire, 
and  it  has  seen  starving  men  in  its  streets.  It 
harbours  men  from  every  nation  and  climate, 
but  it  is  a  home  for  few.  It  is  far  from  the 
centre  of  the  earth's  civilization,  but  it  has  often 
attracted  the  whole  world's  attention.  It  sup- 
ports its  children,  but  by  them  it  is  cursed. 
Its  god  is  in  the  earth  upon  which  it  rests, 
and  its  hope  of  future  life  in  that  which  it 
brings  forth.  And  all  this  because  a  man  up- 
turned the  soil  and  called  it  gold. 


THE    END 


LL 


,.!£f°4™!™  ?EGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILIT 


A     000  673  146     7 


